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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Lucy RobinsonORCiD, Professor Hamish McAllister-WilliamsORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND).
Self-report questionnaires are commonly used in depression research with little consideration of their reading ease. This study aimed to increase the reading ease of the commonly-used Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptoms Self Report (QIDS-SR) and assess the impact of the change in wording on the measure’s psychometric properties. The study had three phases: 1) Flesh-Kincaid readability statistics of the original and modified wording were compared; 2) a sample of n=95 participants rated the modified wording for perceived change in meaning and ease of understanding; 3) a second sample of n=136 participants completed two versions of the QIDS-SR (original, modified, or one of each) alongside the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). The internal consistency, test-retest reliability and convergent validity of the modified version were assessed. The modified QIDS-SR had significantly higher reading ease, was considered easier to understand and was not perceived to have a significant change in meaning. Its psychometric properties were unaffected. The wording of the questionnaire was successfully simplified to increase its accessibility and this had no notable impact on the psychometric properties of the measure.
Author(s): Robinson LJ, McAllister-Williams RH
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Journal of Pschiatric Research
Year: 2024
Volume: 177
Pages: 53-58
Online publication date: 25/06/2024
Acceptance date: 24/06/2024
Date deposited: 17/07/2024
ISSN (print): 0022-3956
ISSN (electronic): 1879-1379
Publisher: Elsevier
URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2024.06.027
DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2024.06.027
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