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A direct comparison of effect sizes from the clinical global impression‐improvement scale to effect sizes from other rating scales in controlled trials of adult social anxiety disorder
Author(s) -
Hedges Dawson W.,
Brown Bruce L.,
Shwalb David A.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
human psychopharmacology: clinical and experimental
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.461
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1099-1077
pISSN - 0885-6222
DOI - 10.1002/hup.989
Subject(s) - clinical global impression , social anxiety , psychology , rating scale , distress , anxiety , placebo , clinical trial , clinical psychology , psychiatry , medicine , developmental psychology , alternative medicine , pathology
Objective The clinical global impression‐improvement scale (CGI‐I) is used to monitor treatment outcome in mental disorders. To better understand the properties of the CGI‐I scale in social anxiety disorder, effects sizes from the CGI‐I scale were compared to comparably calculated effect sizes from other rating scales obtained from double‐blind, placebo‐controlled trials of selective‐serotonin reuptake inhibitors in social anxiety disorder. From peer‐reviewed, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled studies evaluating selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors in social anxiety disorder, we extracted CGI‐I data and scores from other assessment scales of severity and function. Using calculations that enabled direct comparisons, effect sizes for the binarily reported CGI‐I scores were compared to effect sizes from the quantitative scales. Results Effect sizes for the binary CGI‐I scale were statistically indistinguishable from effect sizes obtained from the other scales, with the exception of the social avoidance and distress scale. Conclusions The CGI‐I scale is an appropriate method of assessing clinical change in trials of social anxiety disorder. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.