Florida Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory: Psychometric properties in a chinese psychotherapy-seeking sample

Abstract

While clinician ratings are the gold standard to assess the severity of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), they are time intensive and difficult to implement. Comparatively, OCD self-report measures are brief and efficient alternatives to clinician ratings and offer several advantages. The Florida Obsessive Compulsive Inventory (FOCI) serves as a brief assessment of both OCD symptom presence (Symptom Checklist) and severity (Severity Scale). This study examined the psychometric properties of the FOCI in 352 adults seeking online information about psychotherapy. The FOCI Symptom Checklist and Severity Scale exhibited fair-to-excellent internal consistency, with the Severity Scale demonstrating good short-term test-retest reliability. Convergent validity of the FOCI Symptom Checklist and Severity Scale was evidenced by strong correlations with other self-report measures of OCD, with more modest associations with the related constructs of anxiety, intolerance of uncertainty, and stress. Divergent validity was supported by fair correlations with scales assessing depressive symptoms. The FOCI Severity Scale exhibited fair convergence with self-reported impairment, whereas the Symptom Checklist did not. Taken together, findings provide initial support for the reliability and validity of the FOCI Symptom Checklist and Severity Scale when used in Chinese treatment-seeking individuals but requires evaluation in a clinical sample before clear conclusions can be drawn.