Amer Dhami

Tamara Gordon
Esha Kumar
Cassie McMillan
Background Information
● Created by Leonard R. Derogatis

● Published in 1994
● For ages 13 years and older
● Grade 6 reading level

● Translated into 28 languages including: Spanish, French, German, Italian, Russian,

Portuguese, Dutch, Swiss, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Hebrew, and Arabic

Pearson Canada Assessment, Inc. (2017)

Types of Reports

Pearson Canada Assessment, Inc. (2017)

Test Contents

● Manual: $65.00

● Audio CD: $90.00

● Q-global™ web-based scoring
● Mail-in scoring

● Hand-scoring
Order from Pearson: Clinical Assessment Canada
https://www.pearsonclinical.ca/en/products/product-master/item-126.html

Pearson Canada Assessment, Inc. (2017).

Test Materials: Q-global™ Web-Based Scoring

● Web-based platform for test Per Report:

administration, scoring, and ● Q Global Profile Report: $6.60

reporting ● Q Global Interpretive Report: $15.30
● Mobile device friendly
● Annual licence fee: $115.00
● Pricing on per-report basis

Pearson Canada Assessment, Inc. (2017).

Test Materials: Hand & Mail-In Scoring
Hand-Scoring
● Hand-scoring starter kit: inpatient psychiatric - $188.00
● Hand-scoring starter kit: outpatient psychiatric - $188.00
● Hand-scoring starter kit: nonpatient adolescent - $193.00
● Hand-scoring starter kit: nonpatient adult - $188.00
Mail-In Scoring
● Mail-in scoring interpretive reports - $26.00
● Mail-in scoring profile reports - $12.25

Pearson Canada Assessment, Inc. (2017)

Necessary User Qualifications
Qualification Level B

● Master’s degree in psychology, education, occupational therapy,

speech-language pathology, social work, or in a field closed related to
intended use of assessment, & formal training in ethical
administration scoring, & interpretation of clinical assessments
● OR Certification by a professional organization (e.g. CCPA)

● OR A degree/license to practice in the healthcare field

● OR formal, supervised mental health, speech/language, occupational
therapy, and/or educational training specific to assessing children,
and formal training in the ethical administration, scoring, &
interpretation of clinical assessments
Pearson Canada Assessment, Inc. (2017)
Administration
● 12-15 minutes to complete

● 5 point likert scale

● Respondent rates in terms of severity (0= Not at all, to 4= Extremely)

● Circle the number bests describes how much client was bothered by that problem
during past week

Pearson Canada Assessment, Inc. (2017)

Scales
● There are 90 descriptions of symptoms that evaluate nine symptomatic dimensions

● Nine symptomatic dimensions: Somatization (SOM), Obsessive-Compulsive (O-C),

Interpersonal Sensitivity (I-S), Depression (DEP), Anxiety, (ANX), Hostility, (HOS), Phobic
Anxiety (PHOB), Paranoid Ideation (PAR), Psychoticism (PSY)

● Additional Items: Global Severity Index (GSI), Positive Symptom Distress Index, (PSDI), and
the Positive Symptom Total (PST)

● The GSI is the average rating given to all 90 items.

● The PST is the number of symptoms complained of (i.e., the number of items rated higher
than zero).

● The PSDI is the average rating, from 1 to 4, given to those symptoms which are complained
of (i.e., not rated "0").

(Groth-Marnat, 2003)
SCL-90-R Scales
SOM Somatization (12 items)

O-C Obsessive-Compulsive ( 10)

I-S Interpersonal Sensitivity (9)

DEP Depression (13)

ANX Anxiety (10)

HOS Hostility (6)

PHOB Phobic Anxiety (7)

PAR Paranoid Ideation (6)

PSY Psychoticism (10)

SCL-90-R Scales Contd...

● Global Severity Index (GSI) - designed to measure overall psychological distress

● Positive Symptom Distress Index (PSDI) - designed to measure the intensity of

symptoms

● Positive Symptom Total (PST) - reports number of self-reported symptoms

Pearson Canada Assessment, Inc.

Author: Leonard R. Derogatis
● Received Ph.D. in psychology in 1965
● Was on the faculty at Johns Hopkins University School
of Medicine for 21 years
● 2003 - Director of Johns Hopkins Center for Sexual
Medicine
● 2012 - Director of Maryland Center for Sexual Health

● More than 12 psychological test instruments & over

125 scientific papers

● Current personal research: sponsored research on

screening, diagnosis, and treatment of sexual
Pearson Education, Inc. (2017)
disorders
Theoretical Framework

● Well-known self-assessment instrument

● Used for a broad range of mental disorders that assess the subjective
symptoms in patients with mental disorders (Prinz et al., 2013).
● It is most useful and valid when used as a general, comprehensive measure of
psychological disturbance (Hays, 2013).

● It was designed to be used as a screening tool to identify cases that require

further assessment (Hays, 2013).
Theoretical Framework
● Derogatis helped create the Hopkins Symptoms Checklist and the SCL-90 prior to the
SCL-90-R.
● SCL-90-R share strong similarities to the Hopkins Symptom Checklist (HSCL)
(Craighead & Nemeroff, 2004).
● Four categories of the SCL-90 in combination with 58 items/5 categories from HSCL
(Somatization, Obsessive-Compulsive, Interpersonal Sensitivity, Depression, and
Anxiety) made up the nine symptom scales in SCL-90-R (Tarescavage & Ben‐Porath,
2014).
Theoretical Framework
● The HSCL shares similarities and item content with other self-report
instruments, most notably the Cornell Medical Index developed several
decades before (Craighead & Nemeroff, 2004).
● Partially inspired by the original self-report symptom inventory--Woodworth’s
Personal Data Sheet, created to screen American Expeditionary Force soldiers
for psychiatric disorder in World War I (Craighead & Nemeroff, 2004).
Norming Process
There are four normative groups that scores can be compared to:

● 1) Psychiatric Outpatients
● 2) Nonpatients
● 3) Psychiatric Inpatients
● 4) Nonpatient Adolescents
These norms suggest that the SCL-90-R can be used to assess general psychological
problems and symptoms amongst a wide variety of respondents

(Groth-Marnat, 2003)
Reliability
● Reliability has been consistently good
● Internal consistency for the nine symptomatic dimensions based on
psychiatric outpatients ranged from a low of .79 for Paranoid Ideation to a
high of .90 for Depression
● Test-retest reliability (over one week) ranged from a low of .78 for hostility to
a high of .90 for Phobic Anxiety

(Groth-Marnat, 2003)
Validity
● Over 1000 studies have been done on the SCL-R-90 investigating its validity
● SCL-R-90 has a high correlation (.80) with the BDI and detects depression just
as effectively
● Client’s with specific diagnoses tend to score high on their corresponding
scales (e.g. depression, anxiety, substance abuse); however, other studies
have questioned the diagnostic validity of the measure
● The Psychoticism dimension was unable to discriminate between psychotic
and nonpsychotic patients, indicating that the Psychoticism dimension has
the weakest psychometric properties of the scales

(Groth-Marnat, 2003)
Clinical & Practical Applications
Used by:

● Clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, professionals in mental health field

○ Screening instrument to detect cases that need additional assessment
○ Monitor improvement of clients during the course of counselling
● Medical
○ E.g. Bariatric surgery candidates
● Educational settings
● Research purposes

Ransom et al. (2010)

Commentary Weaknesses

● SCL-90-R may not show the fuller picture

Strengths:
of symptoms and client experience.

● The creation of numerous short versions

● Broad application (Holi, 2003)
of the SCL-90-R shows the need for a
more economic instrument (Prinz et al.,
● Looks at frequency and severity (Holi,
2013).
2003)
● Time efficient (Holi, 2003)
● The BSI-18 is the most well-known and
● Can give client the opportunity to refer to
successful instrument out of all the
own their experience (Holi, 2003)
shortened versions (Prinz et al., 2013).

● Not a good assessment for individuals

with intellectual disabilities (Derogatis,
1983).
References
Derogatis, L.R. (1983). SCL–90–R: Administration, scoring, and procedures manual II. Baltimore: Clinical Psychometric
Research.

Groth-Marnat, G. (2003). Handbook of Psychological Assessment. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Retrieved from
http://web.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.lib.ucalgary.ca/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzgyNTY2X19BTg2?sid=a0c56f5
0-04f2-4de1-a136-7de842378e7c@sessionmgr102&vid=0&format=EB&rid=1

Hays, D. G. (2013). Assessment in counselling (5th ed.). [Kobo version.] Alexandria, VA: American Counselling Association.

Holi, M. (2003). Assessment of psychiatric symptoms using the SCL-90. Doctoral Thesis, Helsinki: University of Helsinki.
Pearson Canada Assessment, Inc. (2017a). Symptom-Checklist-90-Revised. Retrieved from
https://www.pearsonclinical.ca/en/products/product-master/item-126.html

Pearson Education, Inc. (2017b). Leonard R. Derogatis. Retrieved by

http://www.pearsonclinical.com/psychology/authors/derogatis-leonard.html

Prinz, U., Nutzinger, D. O., Schulz, H., Petermann, F., Braukhaus, C., & Andreas, S. (2013). Comparative psychometric
analyses of the SCL-90-R and its short versions in patients with affective disorders. BMC Psychiatry, 13(1), 104-104.
doi:10.1186/1471-244X-13-104
References Continued
Ransom, D., Ashton, K., Windover, A., Heinberg, L. (2010) Internal consistency and validity assessment of SCL-90-R for
bariatric surgery candidates. Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases, 6, 622– 627 Retrieved from
http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezproxy.lib.ucalgary.ca/science/article/pii/S1550728910000791

Scl 90 R. (2004). In W. E. Craighead, & C. B. Nemeroff (Eds.), The concise Corsini encyclopedia of psychology and behavioral
science (3rd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Retrieved from
http://ezproxy.lib.ucalgary.ca/login?url=http://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/wileypsych/scl_90_r/0?institutionI
d=261

Tarescavage, A. M., & Ben‐Porath, Y. S. (2014). Psychotherapeutic outcomes measures: A critical review for practitioners.
Journal of Clinical Psychology, 70(9), 808-830. DOI:10.1002/jclp.22080

W. E. Craighead, & C. B. Nemeroff (Eds.), Scl 90 R. (2004). The concise Corsini encyclopedia of psychology and behavioral
science (3rd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Retrieved from
http://ezproxy.lib.ucalgary.ca/login?url=http://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/wileypsych/scl_90_r/0?institutionI
d=261