Premium
The Cronholm‐Ottosson Depression Scale: the first depression scale designed to rate changes during treatment
Author(s) -
Bech P.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
acta psychiatrica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.849
H-Index - 146
eISSN - 1600-0447
pISSN - 0001-690X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0447.1991.tb03175.x
Subject(s) - depression (economics) , rating scale , psychology , statistic , scale (ratio) , clinical psychology , psychiatry , statistics , developmental psychology , mathematics , cartography , economics , macroeconomics , geography
In 1960 Ottosson published the first specific depression rating scale (the Cronholm‐Ottosson Depression Scale) designed to be sensitive in measuring change during antidepressive therapy. Ottosson and his group have never used factor analysis to validate the scale, as the items of the scale were selected on a preconceived idea for homogeneity, i.e. having a monotonic correspondance to the underlying dimension of severity of depression. The most appropriate method of testing the construct validity of the Cronholm‐Ottosson Depression Scale is latent structure analysis. Using the original Ottosson data, a latent structure analysis has been made showing that the 8 items of the scale are homogeneously related, i.e. can be ordered on one dimension of severity of depression. The descriptive statistic of a 50% reduction of pretreatment score (or more) equaled the global clinical score of moderate to excellent improvement. Both scales showed that, already after 4 electroconvulsive treatments, about 80% of depressed patients who received adequate fits had moderate to excellent improvement, whereas only around 40% of depressed patients who received inadequate fits improved moderately or excellently.