The Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale: interview versus self-report

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Clinical Psychology
• Behavioral Science

Background:

• The Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (YBOCS) is a standard diagnostic tool for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
• Interviewer-administered YBOCS has established reliability and validity.
• The efficiency and accessibility of a self-report version warrant investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the psychometric properties of a self-report version of the YBOCS.
• To compare the self-report YBOCS with the standard interview format in clinical and non-clinical populations.
• To assess the reliability, validity, and potential utility of the self-report YBOCS.

Main Methods:

• The study compared a self-report YBOCS with the interviewer-administered YBOCS.
• Participants included two non-clinical samples, a clinical OCD sample, and a non-OCD clinical group.
• Internal consistency, test-retest reliability, convergent validity, and diagnostic discrimination were assessed.

Main Results:

• The self-report YBOCS demonstrated excellent internal consistency and test-retest reliability.
• Good agreement was found between symptom checklist categories across both versions.
• The self-report version showed strong convergent validity and effectively discriminated between OCD and non-OCD patients, performing slightly better than the interview.

Conclusions:

• The self-report YBOCS is a reliable and valid measure for assessing OCD symptoms.
• It shows potential as a time-saving and cost-effective alternative to the interviewer-administered YBOCS.
• Further research, especially with clinical samples, is recommended to confirm these findings.