Independent validation of the dimensional Yale-Brown obsessive-compulsive scale (DY-BOCS)

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a clinically heterogeneous condition characterized by a few consistent, temporally stable symptom dimensions. The dimensional Yale-Brown obsessive-compulsive scale (DY-BOCS) is a recently developed instrument that allows patient and clinician ratings of dimension-specific symptom severity, as well as estimates of global symptom severity in patients with OCD.

We examined the psychometric properties of the DY-BOCS in a sample of 128 European adult patients with OCD.

The results of the psychometric analyses were overall excellent. The internal consistency across the domains of time, distress and interference for each dimension was high. The subscales of the DY-BOCS were largely independent from one another. The convergent and discriminant validity of the DY-BOCS subscales were adequate. The Global Severity and Interference scales were largely intercorrelated, suggesting that they may be redundant. The level of agreement between self-report and expert ratings was adequate although somewhat lower than in the original validation study.

The results of the present study confirm the excellent psychometric properties of the DY-BOCS reported in the original validation study.