A study of the dimensionality and measurement precision of the SCL-90-R using item response theory

We used item response theory (IRT) to (a) investigate the dimensionality of the Symptom Checklist‐90‐Revised (SCL‐90‐R) in a severely disturbed patient group, (b) improve the subscales in a meaningful way and (c) investigate the measurement precision of the improved scales. The total sample comprise...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of methods in psychiatric research 2011-09, Vol.20 (3), p.e39-e55
Main Authors: Paap, Muirne C. S., Meijer, Rob R., Van Bebber, Jan, Pedersen, Geir, Karterud, Sigmund, Hellem, Frøydis M., Haraldsen, Ira R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Depression
Depression - diagnosis
Depression - epidemiology
Female
Hospitals
Humans
item response theory
Male
Mental Disorders - diagnosis
Mental Disorders - epidemiology
Norway - epidemiology
Obsessive compulsive disorder
personality disorder
Personality Disorders - diagnosis
Personality Disorders - epidemiology
Personality Disorders - psychology
Personality Inventory
Psychological Theory
Psychometrics
questionnaire evaluation
Reproducibility of Results
Retrospective Studies
Statistics, Nonparametric
Surveys and Questionnaires
validity
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Summary:We used item response theory (IRT) to (a) investigate the dimensionality of the Symptom Checklist‐90‐Revised (SCL‐90‐R) in a severely disturbed patient group, (b) improve the subscales in a meaningful way and (c) investigate the measurement precision of the improved scales. The total sample comprised 3078 patients (72% women, mean age = 35 ± 9) admitted to 14 different day hospitals participating in the Norwegian Network of Personality‐focused Treatment Programmes. Mokken Scale Analysis was used to investigate the dimensionality of the SCL‐90‐R and improve the subscales. This analysis was theory‐driven: the scales were built on two start items that reflected the content of the disorder that corresponds with the specific scale. The Graded Response Model was employed to determine measurement precision. Our theory‐driven IRT approach resulted in a new seven‐factor solution including 60 of the 90 items clustered in seven scales: depression, agoraphobia, physical complaints, obsessive‐compulsive, hostility (unchanged), distrust and psychoticism. Most of the new scales discriminated reliably between patients with moderately low scores to moderately high scores. In conclusion, we found support for the multidimensionality of the SCL‐90‐R in a large sample of severely disturbed patients. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
ISSN:1049-8931
1557-0657
1557-0657
DOI:10.1002/mpr.347