Cross-cultural implementation of a Chinese version of the Schedules for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry (SCAN) in Taiwan

Background There are no published reports of cross-cultural equivalence and irrterrater reliability at the level of individual symptom items assessed by a semi-structured clinical interview employing operationalised clinician ratings. Aims To assess the cross-cultural clinical equivalence and reliability of a Chinese version of the World Health Organization Schedules for Clinical As sessment in Neuropsychiatry (SCAN). Method UK-US and Taiwanese groups of psychiatrists used Chinese and English transcripts of videotape interviews of Taiwanese patients to discuss cross cultural issues and ratings of SCAN items. Item ratings were compared quant itatively individually and pooled by SCAN section. Results Chinese equivalents were found for all SCAN items. No between-group differences were found for most individual items, but there were differenc es for some scaled items. Average agreement between the two groups was 69-1 00%. Conclusions Cross-cultural implementation based on SCAN in Taiwan appears v alid. Declaration of interest This work was supported by a grant from the Taiwan National Health Research Institutes (DD01-861X-MD-601S).