Title: Examining symptom expression as a function of symptom severity: Item performance on the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression.
Abstract: Despite widespread use of the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD; M. Hamilton, 1960), questions have been raised concerning its psychometric properties. A nonparametric item response model was used to examine how the probability of observing a specific symptom of depression changes with increases in depressive severity in a sample of depressed adults. Results showed that options from a number of items on the HRSD did not vary as a function of severity and therefore should not be viewed as indicators of depressive severity. The extent to which symptoms are expressed as a function of depressive severity carries important implications for the use of the HRSD as a measure of severity and for the debate concerning construction of depression as a continuum. Results argue against viewing depression as a simple continuum.
Publication Year: 2001
Publication Date: 2001-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref', 'pubmed']
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Cited By Count: 69
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