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Updated: Jul 14, 2026

Multimodal Protocol for Assessing Metacognition and Self-Regulation in Adults with Learning Difficulties
Published on: September 27, 2020
Correspondence between self-ratings and key-workers' ratings of depression in adults with mild learning disabilities
Michael S Gordon1, Mark Shevlin, Kevin J Tierney
1School of Psychology, University of Ulster at Magee Campus, Northern Ireland. ms.gordon@ulster.ac.uk
Objective:
This study assessed the association between self-ratings and key-worker ratings of depression in people with mild learning disabilities.
Method:
The Zung Depression Scale was completed by 74 adults with mild learning disabilities and a modified version of the questionnaire was completed by two key-workers at two periods in time.
Results:
The correlations between ratings of depression by key-workers were high and key-worker ratings correlated significantly with self-rating. The depression scores were found to be temporally stable.
Conclusions:
The findings suggest that proxy raters appear to be able to make reliable and valid judgements about other people's self-reported levels of depression.
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