title: Correspondence between self-ratings and key-workers' ratings of depression in adults with mild learning disabilities.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Ulster at Magee Campus, Northern Ireland. ms.gordon@ulster.ac.uk
authors.forename: Michael S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Gordon
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shevlin
authors.forename: Kevin J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Tierney
authors.forename: Brendan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bunting
authors.forename: Timothy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Trimble
mesh_terms: 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