Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS)
Psychology: Mental HealthReliability: alpha 0.913 sample items
About this scale
A 10-item clinician-rated severity measure of obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Standard outcome measure in OCD treatment research.
Sample item(s)
“How much of your time is occupied by obsessive thoughts?”
“How much do these obsessions interfere with social or work functioning?”
“How much distress do these obsessions cause?”
Reliability
Reported internal consistency: alpha 0.91. As a rule of thumb, Cronbach’s α ≥ .70 is considered acceptable, ≥ .80 good, and ≥ .90 excellent for established measures.
Notes
Standard OCD severity instrument.
Source & citation
Goodman, W. K., Price, L. H., Rasmussen, S. A., Mazure, C., Fleischmann, R. L., Hill, C. L., Heninger, G. R., & Charney, D. S. (1989): The Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale: I. Development, use, and reliability. Archives of General Psychiatry, Vol. 46, No. 11, pp. 1006–1011.
Source. Scale details are summarised from the publication cited above. Always consult the original source for the full item set, scoring, and permission to use.
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