Cross-cultural adaptation of the Operationalized Psychodynamic Diagnosis (OPD-2) in Portugal

The Operationalized Psychodynamic Diagnosis (OPD-2) is internationally established as one of the major instruments available for clinical diagnosis and scientific research, being frequently used as an auxiliary tool in the selection of therapeutic interventions.

1) To describe the methodological aspects of the adaptation of the OPD-2 into Portuguese (Portugal and Brazil). 2) To assess inter-rater agreement for the different axes of the instrument when scoring clinical interviews.

The cross-cultural adaptation involved translation of the instrument by different independent translators, whose versions were compared in discussion groups in order to develop a final Portuguese version. In the presence of discrepancies regarding the translation of original concepts, the authors of the original instrument were contacted for clarification. Five interviews were used to assess inter-rater agreement. Each subject participated in two interviews, conducted by an experienced clinical psychologist. The interviews were recorded, transcribed and then analyzed by the principal investigator and by three independent examiners.

Axis IV (Structure) presented the highest inter-rater agreement (78%). Axes I (Experience of illness and prerequisites for treatment) and III (Conflict) showed the lowest inter-rater agreement results (66 and 57.7%, respectively).

Our results point in the same direction as previous studies conducted in other countries. In our sample, the OPD-2 presented an acceptable inter-rater agreement; however, further studies are needed to assess the instrument's reliability.