The validity and reliability of the WHO Schedules for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry (SCAN Thai Version): Mood Disorders Section.
BACKGROUND
Mood disorders are one of the most prevalent psychiatric disorders that have early onset, are chronic and can cause functional impairment. It is therefore crucial to establish an accurate diagnosis for treatment and research purposes.


OBJECTIVE
The authors aimed to test the validity and reliability of the WHO Schedules for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry (SCAN Thai Version): Mood Disorders Section.


METHODS
First, psychiatrists competent in the use of the schedules and their underlying objectives tests the linguistic clarity of the Thai psychiatric schedules in four regions of the country. Then between October 2003 and August 2004, Reliability of SCAN: mood disorder section was tested among 30 participants, including mood disordered patients and normal volunteers.


RESULTS
Based on reactions from Thais and consultations from competent psychiatrists, content validity was established. The duration of interviews for the mood disorder sections averaged 63.6 min (SD = 17.1). The inter- and intra-rater reliability kappa were 0.80 (0.77-0.83) and 0.86 (0.84-0.88), respectively. The reliability of the majority of items reached substantial to almost perfect agreement; however, 1 item (1%) had only slight agreement and 15 items (12%) had moderate agreement, and needed clarification of the scoring method


CONCLUSIONS
The Mood Disorders Sections of the WHO Neuropsychiatry Schedules for Clinical Assessment (SCAN Thai Version) were effective tools for diagnosing mood disorders among Thais.
Krisanaprakornkit
Thawatchai
T
Deparment of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand. drthawatchai@yahoo.com
Paholpak
Suchat
S
Piyavhatkul
Nawanant
N
D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013785:Thailand; D014177:Translations; D014944:World Health Organization