An inventory to assess psychopathology of mentally retarded adults

An inventory of psychopathology (self-report and informant versions) was developed for mentally retarded adults. The inventory was administered to 110 retarded adults from institutional (n = 59) and community (n = 51) settings. Data indicated that both versions of the instrument showed acceptable levels of internal consistency and test-retest reliability. In addition, the correlations between self-report and informant versions were low but significant for selected symptom clusters. To provide preliminary evidence regarding the clinical utility of the measure, we examined the relationship of diagnosis of depression (based on informant ratings) to other measures of psychopathology. The diagnosis of depression on the informant version of the inventory corresponded to other self-report and clinical ratings of dysfunction. The feasibility of this instrument in identifying psychopathology among retarded persons and its future use as a screening instrument for additional psychiatric evaluation were discussed.