Cross-cultural implementation of a Chinese version of the Schedules for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry (SCAN) in Taiwan.
BACKGROUND
There are no published reports of cross-cultural equivalence and interrater reliability at the level of individual symptom items assessed by a semi-structured clinical interview employing operationalised clinician ratings.


OBJECTIVE
To assess the cross-cultural clinical equivalence and reliability of a Chinese version of the World Health Organization Schedules for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry (SCAN).


METHODS
UK-US and Taiwanese groups of psychiatrists used Chinese and English transcripts of videotape interviews of Taiwanese patients to discuss cross-cultural issues and ratings of SCAN items. Item ratings were compared quantitatively individually and pooled by SCAN section.


RESULTS
Chinese equivalents were found for all SCAN items. No between-group differences were found for most individual items, but there were differences for some scaled items. Average agreement between the two groups was 69-100%.


CONCLUSIONS
Cross-cultural implementation based on SCAN in Taiwan appears valid.
Cheng
A T
AT
Division of Epidemiology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan. bmandrew@ccvax.sinica.edu.tw
Tien
A Y
AY
Chang
C J
CJ
Brugha
T S
TS
Cooper
J E
JE
Lee
C S
CS
Compton
W
W
Liu
C Y
CY
Yu
W Y
WY
Chen
H M
HM
D002681:China; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology*; D015588:Observer Variation; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011578:Psycholinguistics; D012928:Social Desirability; D013624:Taiwan; D006113:United Kingdom; D014481:United States; D014743:Videotape Recording