Development and reliability of a structured interview guide for the Montgomery Asberg Depression Rating Scale (SIGMA).
Open accessAbstract
Background: The Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) is often used in clinical trials to select patients and to assess treatment efficacy. The scale was originally published without suggested questions for clinicians to use in gathering the information necessary to rate the items. Structured and semi-structured interview guides have been found to improve reliability with other scales. Aims: To describe the development and test-retest reliability of a structured interview guide for the MADRS (SIGMA). Method: A total of 162 test-retest interviews were conducted by 81 rater pairs. Each patient was interviewed twice, once by each rater conducting an independent interview. Results: The intraclass correlation for total score between raters using the SIGMA was r = 0.93, P < 0.0001. All ten items had good to excellent interrater reliability. Conclusions: Use of the SIGMA can result in high reliability of MADRS scores in evaluating patients with depression.
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The Structured Interview Guide for the MADRS provided structured probes to ensure standardization of administration and comprehensive coverage of the 10 questions.
“The Structured Interview Guide for the MADRS provided structured probes to ensure standardization of administration and comprehensive coverage of the 10 questions.15”
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“MADRS was administered by trained interviewer, assessing sadness, inner tension, reduced sleep, reduced appetite, concentration difficulties, lassi-tude, inability to feel, pessimistic thoughts and suicidal thoughts during the last week (Williams and Kobak, 2008).”
- Authors
- Williams, J. B. W., & Kobak, K. A.
- Affiliations
- Columbia University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Williams, Janet B. W.
- Venue
- British Journal of Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Royal College of Psychiatrists
- Published
- 2008-01
- Volume
- 192
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 52-58
- ISSN
- 0007-1250 (ISSN-L)
- 1472-1465
- OpenAlex
- W2069138677
- Semantic Scholar
- 1277fdcd97de3e0dd9e85eec53712da0c2e504d3
- Cited by
- 463
- References
- 28
- Citations by year
- 2026: 30 · 2025: 37 · 2024: 52 · 2023: 50 · 2022: 32 · 2021: 47 · 2020: 37 · 2019: 34 · 2018: 24 · 2017: 34 · 2016: 19 · 2015: 25 · 2014: 16 · 2013: 10 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 3.79
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- The British Journal of Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- University of Cambridge
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Statistics, Probability and Uncertainty › Reliability and Agreement in Measurement
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Management Science and Operations Research › Psychometric Methodologies and Testing
- Keywords
- Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale, sigma, inter-rater reliability, test-retest reliability, rating scale development, clinical interview
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aged, Depressive Disorder, Female, Humans, Interviews as Topic, Male, Middle Aged, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales, Reproducibility of Results, Patient Selection, Remote Consultation
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