Development and psychometric evaluation of the Mandarin Chinese version of the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale – Second Edition

OBJECTIVE: To examine the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale – Second Edition (Y-BOCS-II). METHOD: A total of 86 adults with a primary diagnosis of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), ranging in age from 15 to 78 years, participated in the study. Participants were administered the Y-BOCS-II by a trained clinician who also rated overall illness severity on two additional measures. Patients completed the Obsessive Compulsive Inventory-Revised and Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21. RESULTS: Results indicated high internal consistency and fair 1-week test retest reliability. The Y-BOCS-II scales correlated strongly with clinician-rated obsessive-compulsive severity and modestly with self-reported obsessive-compulsive symptom frequency and distress. The relationship between Y-BOCS-II total score and depressive and anxiety symptoms was strong, which may reflect high rates of comorbid conditions in this sample or the linkage between obsessive-compulsive symptom severity and distress. Factor analysis demonstrated a two-factor structure consisting of obsession and compulsion factors, with interference due to obsessions cross-loading. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, these results support the use of the Y-BOCS-II among individuals from China. Future study by an independent group is necessary to replicate these findings, as well as investigate interrater reliability and treatment sensitivity.