A Comparison of the German Version of the Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory-Revised (OCI-R) and the Short Version of the Hamburg Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory (HZI-K): A Validity Study

A Comparison of the German Version of the Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory-Revised (OCI-R) and the Short Version of the Hamburg Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory (HZI-K): A Validity Study Background: In Germany, the Hamburg Obsession-Compulsion Inventory (HZI-K) is widely used as a self-report measure for assessing the symptoms and the severity of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory-Revised (OCI-R) can also be used to assess symptoms and severity of OCD. It is well established in English-speaking countries and is meanwhile also available in German. This study aims to compare these two instruments regarding their reliability and convergent validity, as well as their discriminant validity. Method: Based on a sample of 41 OCD patients, correlations were calculated between OCI-R, HZI-K and further instruments, assessing OCD-relevant constructs and depression. Results: Correlations between OCI-R and HZI-K were moderate to high while correlations with observer-rated severity of symptoms were unexpectedly low. Correlations to depression measures were acceptable with slightly raised scores. Conclusions: Overall, the results provided evidence for a good to very good convergent validity of the OCI-R and HZI-K. Both instruments were comparable in many aspects. There are differences concerning the number of items, the symptom areas of the subscales, and the discriminant validity regarding depression. In sum, a systematic application of the OCI-R can be deduced for the majority of cases.