Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T07:23:27.307Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Validity of the Zung Self-rating Depression Scale

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

John T. Biggs
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, 4940 Audubon Avenue, St Louis, Missouri, USA 63110
Laurence T. Wylie
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, 4940 Audubon Avenue, St Louis, Missouri, USA 63110
Vincent E. Ziegler
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, 4940 Audubon Avenue, St Louis, Missouri, USA 63110

Summary

The Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (ZSDS) correlated well (0·69) with the treating physician's global rating in 26 depressed out-patients during the six weeks of treatment with a tricyclic antidepressant. In a larger sample of 41 patients, a high correlation was found between the ZSDS and the Hamilton Rating Scale. The sensitivity of the ZSDS was found to be adequate. The scale was able to differentiate, at the 0·05 level, four severity groups classified on the basis of the global rating. The importance of the direct relationship between the range of severity studied and the value of the correlation coefficient was discussed. Previous investigations and the results of this study indicate that the ZSDS is a valid and sensitive measure of clinical severity in depressed patients and support its continued use as a research instrument.

Type
Papers
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1978 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bailey, J. & Coppen, A. (1976) A comparison between the Hamilton Rating Scale and the Beck Inventory in the measurement of depression. British Journal of Psychiatry, 128, 486–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bech, P., Gram, L. F., Dein, E., Jacobsen, O., Vitger, J. & Bolwig, T. G. (1975) Quantitative rating of depression states. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 51, 51, 161–70.Google Scholar
Beck, A. T., Ward, C. H., Mendelson, M., Mock, J. & Erbaugh, J. (1961) An inventory for measuring depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 4, 5363.Google Scholar
Brown, G. L. & Zung, W. W. K. (1972) Depression scales. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 13, 361–7.Google Scholar
Carroll, B. J., Fielding, J. M. & Blashki, M. B. (1973) Depression rating scales: a critical review. Archives of General Psychiatry, 28, 361–6.Google Scholar
Davies, B., Burrows, G. & Paynton, C. (1975) A comparative study of four depression rating scales. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 9, 21–4.Google Scholar
Hamilton, M. (1960) A rating scale for depression. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 23, 5662.Google Scholar
Hamilton, M. (1976) Clinical evaluation of depression: clinical criteria and rating scales, including a Guttman scale. In Depression: Behavioral, Biochemical, Diagnostic and Treatment Concepts (eds Gallant, D. M. and Simpson, G. M.). New York: Spectrum Publications.Google Scholar
Kelley, T. L. (1947) Fundamentals of Statistics, pp 425–32. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press Google Scholar
Prusoff, B. A., Klerman, G. L. & Paykel, E. S. (1972) Concordance between clinical assessments and patients' self-report in depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 26, 546–52.Google Scholar
Siegel, S. (1956) Non-Parametric Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Ziegler, V. E., Co, B. T., Taylor, J. R., Clayton, P. J. & Biggs, J. T. (1976) Amitriptyline plasma levels and therapeutic response. Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, 19, 795801.Google Scholar
Zung, W. W. K. (1965) A self-rating depression scale. Archives of General Psychiatry, 12, 6370.Google Scholar
Zung, W. W. K., Richards, C. B. & Short, M. J. (1965) Self-rating depression scale in an outpatient clinic. Archives of General Psychiatry, 13, 508–15.Google Scholar
Zung, W. W. K. (1967) Factors influencing the self-rating depression scale. Archives of General Psychiatry, 16, 543–7.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.