Clinimetric properties of the Chinese version of the Euthymia Scale.

Abstract

The present study was conducted to primarily evaluate the clinimetric sensitivity of the Chinese version of the Euthymia Scale (ES), testing whether this measure discriminated between different groups of patients. Concurrent validity, a clinimetric property that refers to the assessment of the extent to which the rating scale under examination correlates with another related, previously validated, assessment instrument, was also tested investigating whether the ES significantly and negatively correlated with measures of depression and anxiety. A cross-sectional study was conducted. A total of 295 inpatients were recruited from different medical settings and included in this study. In addition to the ES, participants completed the PHQ-9 for the assessment of depression and the GAD-7 for the evaluation of symptoms of generalized anxiety. The clinimetric sensitivity of the ES was evaluated using the Mann-Whitney test and the Kruskal-Wallis analysis of variance, whereas the concurrent validity was tested via Spearman's correlation coefficients. The ES total score and its subscales of psychological flexibility and well-being discriminated between different groups of inpatients and sensitively differentiated depressed from non-depressed patients. Negative and statistically significant correlations between the ES and measures of depression and anxiety were found. Findings of the present study indicate that the Chinese version of the ES is a valid and sensitive clinimetric index that can be used not only to differentiate depressed from non-depressed patients but also as a screening measure to detect vulnerability to depression in a wide range of medical patients.