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Assessment of the severity of primary depressive illness: Wakefield self-assessment depression inventory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

R. P. Snaith
Affiliation:
Stanley Royal Hospital, Wakefield, and the University of Leeds
S. N. Ahmed
Affiliation:
Stanley Royal Hospital, Wakefield, and the University of Leeds
S. Mehta
Affiliation:
Stanley Royal Hospital, Wakefield, and the University of Leeds
Max Hamilton
Affiliation:
Stanley Royal Hospital, Wakefield, and the University of Leeds

Summary

A self-assessment inventory for measuring severity of depressive illness is described, Its chief merits are brevity and simplicity. The correlation with the Hamilton Rating Scale is +0·87. At a cut-off level of 14–15 points 3% of patients and 7·5% of ‘Normals’ are misclassified. The mean scores for male and female patients do not differ significantly and the small positive correlation of score with age is of little practical significance. The limitations in this inventory are discussed but, despite them, it has practical value and merits further development.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1971

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