Psychometric Evaluation of Bengali, Hindi, and Kannada Versions of the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale

Abstract

Background: The Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (YBOCS) is the most widely used clinician-rated instrument for assessing the severity of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). There are no validated translations of the scale in Indian languages. In a clinical sample, we evaluated the psychometric properties of the Bengali, Hindi, and Kannada versions of the Y-BOCS severity scale.

Methods: The English version of Y-BOCS was translated into three Indian languages employing standard procedures. The Kannada, Hindi, and Bengali versions were administered to 71, 100, and 105 OCD patients, respectively, along with the National Institute of Mental Health-Global Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (NIMH-GOCS) and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). Cronbach's alpha was assessed to measure internal consistency. Test-retest reliability was evaluated by re-administering the translated scales by the primary rater. Inter-rater reliability was evaluated by re-administering the scale by an independent rater within a week.

Results: All three versions of the Y-BOCS severity scale had high Cronbach's Alpha scores (>0.90) for total and subscale scores, suggesting good internal consistency. The intraclass coefficients for inter-rater and test-retest reliability were >0.90, suggesting excellent reliability. Although the total Y-BOCS score was significantly correlated with both NIMH-GOCS and PHQ-9, the correlation was stronger for the former, supporting the construct validity.

Conclusion: The translated versions of Y-BOCS investigated in this study are psychometrically reliable and valid measures for the assessment of severity in the Indian population with OCD.

Keywords: Yale–Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale; psychometrics; reliability; translation; validity.