Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-94d59 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T09:14:48.486Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Melancholia Scale and the Newcastle Scales

Item-combinations and Inter-observer Reliability

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

P. Bech
Affiliation:
Psychochemistry Institute and Psychiatric Department, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, DK 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
A. Gjerris
Affiliation:
Psychochemistry Institute and Psychiatric Department, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, DK 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
J. Andersen
Affiliation:
Psychochemistry Institute and Psychiatric Department, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, DK 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
S. B⊘jholm
Affiliation:
Psychochemistry Institute and Psychiatric Department, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, DK 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
P. Kramp
Affiliation:
Psychochemistry Institute and Psychiatric Department, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, DK 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
T. G. Bolwig
Affiliation:
Psychochemistry Institute and Psychiatric Department, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, DK 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
M. Kastrup
Affiliation:
Psychochemistry Institute and Psychiatric Department, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, DK 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
L. Clemmesen
Affiliation:
Psychochemistry Institute and Psychiatric Department, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, DK 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
O. J. Rafaelsen
Affiliation:
Psychochemistry Institute and Psychiatric Department, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, DK 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark

Summary

The reliability of the total scores on three rating scales (Melancholia Scale and the two Newcastle Scales) and the algorithms leading to the Feighner, Research Diagnostic Criteria, and the DSM-III subtypes of depression have been compared. The degree of inter-observer agreements for the various item-combinations was significantly higher than would be expected by chance. The average agreement for each assessment system ranged from 80 to 93 per cent. This 7 to 20 per cent lack of total agreement probably reflects the limitation of clinical assessments including the influence of halo effects.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © 1983 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Psychiatric Association (1980) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III). Washington DC.Google Scholar
Bartko, J. J. & Carpenter, W. T. (1976) On the methods and theory of reliability. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 163, 307–17.Google Scholar
Bech, P. (1981) Rating scales for affective disorders: Their validity and consistency. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 64, (Suppl 295), 1101.Google Scholar
Bech, P., Bolwig, T. G., Kramp, P. & Rafaelsen, O. J. (1979) The Bech-Rafaelsen mania scale and the Hamilton depression scale. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 59, 420–30.Google Scholar
Bech, P. & Rafaelsen, O. J. (1980) The use of rating scales exemplified by a comparison of the Hamilton and the Bech-Rafaelsen melancholia scale. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 62, (Suppl 285), 128–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bech, P., Gram, L. F., Reisby, N. & Rafaelsen, O. J. (1980) The WHO depression scale: Relationship to the Newcastle scales. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 62, 140–53.Google Scholar
Beck, A. T. (1967) Depression. Clinical, experimental, and theoretical aspects. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Carney, M. W. P., Roth, M. & Garside, R. F. (1965) The diagnosis of depressive syndromes and prediction of ECT response. British Journal of Psychiatry, 111, 659–74.Google Scholar
Carney, M. W. P. & Sheffield, P. B. (1972) Depression and the Newcastle scales: Their relationship to Hamilton's scale. British Journal of Psychiatry, 121, 3540.Google Scholar
Feighner, J. P., Robins, E., Guze, S. B., Woodruff, R. A. Jr., Winokur, G. & Munoz, R. (1972) Diagnostic criteria for use in psychiatric research. Archives of General Psychiatry, 26, 5763.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gjerris, A., Bech, P., Bøjholm, S., Bolwig, T. G., Kramp, P., Andersen, J. & Rafaelsen, O. J. (1982) The Hamilton: anxiety scale: Evaluation of homogeneity and inter-observer reliability in patients with depressive disorders, Journal of Affective Disorders, (in press).Google Scholar
Guilford, J. P. (1954) Psychometric Methods. New York: McGraw Hill.Google Scholar
Gurney, C. (1971) Diagnostic scales for affective disorders. Proceedings of the Fifth World Conference of Psychiatry. Mexico City, p. 330.Google Scholar
Hamilton, M. (1967) Development of a rating scale for primary depressive illness. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 6, 278–96.Google Scholar
Helzer, J. E., Clayton, P. J., Pambakian, R., Reich, T., Woodruff, R. A. & Reveley, M. A. (1977) Reliability of psychiatric diagnosis. Archives of General Psychiatry, 34, 136–41.Google Scholar
Kendell, R. E. (1975) The role of diagnosis in psychiatry. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Kragh-Sørensen, P., Hansen, C. E. & Åsberg, M. (1973) Plasma levels of nortriptyline in the treatment of endogenous depression. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 49, 444–56.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rafaelsen, O. J., Bech, P., Bolwig, T. G., Kramp, P. &. Gjerris, A. (1980) The Bech-Rafaelsen combined rating scale for mania and melancholia. In Psychopathology of Depression (eds. Achte, K., Aalberg, V. and Lönnqvist, J.). Psychiatrica Fennica, Suppl, 327–31.Google Scholar
Siegel, S. (1956) Non-parametric Statistics. New York: McGraw Hill.Google Scholar
Spitzer, R. L. & Fleiss, J. L. (1974) A re-analysis of the reliability of psychiatric diagnosis. British Journal of Psychiatry, 125, 341–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Spitzer, R. L., Endicott, J. E. & Robins, E. (1978) Research Diagnostic Criteria. Archives of General Psychiatry, 35, 773–82.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Williams, J. B. W. & Spitzer, R. L. (1981) The reliability of the diagnostic criteria of DSM-III. In What is a Case? (eds. Wing, J. K., Bebbington, P. and Robins, L. N.). London: Grant McIntyre, p. 107–14.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (1974) Glossary of mental disorders and guide to their classification, for use in conjunction with the International Classification of Diseases, 8th revision. Geneva.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.