Assessment of depression in persons with mental retardation

The psychometric characteristics of the Self-Report Depression Questionnaire (SRDQ, Reynolds, in press a), a 32-item self-report measure of depressive symptomatology in persons with mental retardation, were examined. The SRDQ was orally administered to 89 adults living in community-based settings. An internal consistency reliability coefficient of .90, and an 11-week test-retest reliability of .63 were obtained. Criterion-related validity was demonstrated by a high degree of relationship, r = .67, p less than .001, between the SRDQ and individual clinical interviews using the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale. An exploratory factor analysis of the SRDQ items was also presented.