Correspondence between self-ratings and key-workers' ratings of depression in adults with mild learning disabilities.
OBJECTIVE
This study assessed the association between self-ratings and key-worker ratings of depression in people with mild learning disabilities.


METHODS
The Zung Depression Scale was completed by 74 adults with mild learning disabilities and a modified version of the questionnaire was completed by two key-workers at two periods in time.


RESULTS
The correlations between ratings of depression by key-workers were high and key-worker ratings correlated significantly with self-rating. The depression scores were found to be temporally stable.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings suggest that proxy raters appear to be able to make reliable and valid judgements about other people's self-reported levels of depression.
Gordon
Michael S
MS
School of Psychology, University of Ulster at Magee Campus, Northern Ireland. ms.gordon@ulster.ac.uk
Shevlin
Mark
M
Tierney
Kevin J
KJ
Bunting
Brendan
B
Trimble
Timothy
T
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019727:Proxy; D011581:Psychological Tests; D015203:Reproducibility of Results