The inter-rater reliability of the French versions of the MADRS and the DRRS was studied on the basis of 58 videotape records of structured standardised interviews of depressed inpatients under antidepressant treatment. Each patient was assessed by two trained raters, from the same videotape recording. The inter-rater reliability of total scores was high with both scales (intra-class correlation coefficients: 0.86 for MADRS and 0.77 for DRRS). However, the inter-rater reliability for individual items was higher and more homogeneous for the MADRS than for the DRRS. Finally, the structured interview in French appears to be relevant for the MADRS, but it should be improved for the DRRS.
