Urdu translation of the hamilton rating scale for depression: Results of a validation study

Objective: to develop a standardized validated version of the hamilton rating scale for depression (ham-d) in urdu. methods: after translation of the ham-d into the urdu language following standard guidelines,the final urdu version (ham-d-u) was administered to 160 depressed outpatients. inter-item correlation was assessed by calculating cronbach alpha. correlation between ham-d-u scores at baseline and after a 2-week interval was evaluated for test-retest reliability. moreover,scores of two clinicians on ham-d-u were compared for inter-rater reliability. for establishing concurrent validity,scores of ham-d-u and bdi-u were compared by using spearman correlation coefficient. the study was conducted at mayo hospital,lahore,from may to december 2014. results: the cronbach alpha for ham-d-u was 0.71. composite scores for ham-d-u at baseline and after a 2-week interval were also highly correlated with each other (spearman correlation coefficient 0.83,p-value < 0.01) indicating good test-retest reliability. composite scores for ham-d-u and bdi-u were positively correlated with each other (spearman correlation coefficient 0.85,p < 0.01) indicating good concurrent validity. scores of two clinicians for ham-d-u were also positively correlated (spearman correlation coefficient 0.82,p-value < 0.01) indicated good inter-rater reliability. conclusion: the ham-d-u is a valid and reliable instrument for the assessment of depression. it shows good inter-rater and test-retest reliability. the ham-d-u can be a tool either for clinical management or research. © 2016,professional medical publications. all rights reserved.