ADAPTATION AND VALIDATION OF CARROLL DEPRESSION SCALE IN SPANISH

The Carroll Rating-Scale for Depression was translated to Spanish and its reliability was evaluated in 80 depressed out-patients, in whom the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression was also applied. Both scales were utilized in several occasions during the study, completing a total of 702 pairs of applications. The correlation between both scales was significant (r = 0.77; p < 0.001). The matching items correlated better than the non-matching items, but to a variable degree. The internal consistency of the scale, analysed by means of the Cronbach's alpha coefficient resulted in the level of 0.85. Finally the factor analyses conducted for the two scales, corroborated the findings of the previous results. In conclusion, the Spanish version of the Carroll Scale proved to be a reliable auto-administered instrument for evaluating the severity of the depressive episodes.