title: The Depressive Psychopathology Scale: presentation and initial validation in a sample of Peruvian psychiatric patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Presentation and validation of the Depressive Psychopathology Scale (DPS), a new, Spanish-language psychometric inventory, in a sample of Peruvian psychiatric patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  From 1999 to 2001, the DPS, Zung Self-rating Depression Scale (ZSDS), and Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) module of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Disorders (SCID) were administered to 226 nonpsychotic outpatients referred to the National Institute of Mental Health in Lima, Peru, for their initial clinical evaluation. In the evaluation, attending psychiatrists 1) corroborated the general diagnosis and presence or absence of MDD and 2) rated depression severity based on clinical opinion and on Clinical Global Im-pression-Severity scale criteria.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean time to complete the DPS was 7.22 minutes (standard deviation, 3.99). Cronbach's alpha value was 0.86. For diagnosis of MDD, based on the SCID, area under receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) was 0.872 and the selected cutoff score (26/27) had 81.32% sensitivity and 80% specificity; based on the attending psychiatrists' evaluation, AUROC was 0.832 and the selected cutoff score (25/26) had 77.67% sensitivity and 72.32% specificity. The DPS was significantly correlated with the ZSDS (rho = 0.8, P < 0.001). Some DPS items ("depression worse in the morning," "appetite disturbances," "mood reactivity," and "hypersomnia") showed low loadings on the five factors extracted through principal component analysis and/or did not significantly correlate with depression parameters.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The DPS can predict MDD and has convergent validity, as shown by its correlation with the ZSDS. However, additional psychometric studies are recommended to simplify and improve it.
authors: Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru. johannvega@yahoo.com
authors: Johann M
authors: JM
authors: Vega-Dienstmaier
authors: Santiago
authors: S
authors: Stucchi-Portocarrero
authors: Nancy
authors: N
authors: Valdez-Huarcaya
authors: Miriam
authors: M
authors: Cabra-Bravo
authors: Maria I
authors: MI
authors: Zapata-Vega
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003469:Culture; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010045:Outpatients; D010568:Peru; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D057566:Self Report; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index