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Psychological measurement tools

Here you will find an overview of the measurement instruments (co-)developed by the department.

For an overview of measurement instruments in obsessive-compulsive disorders, we would like to refer to the following book chapter:

  • Fink-Lamotte, J. (in press). Klinische Erhebungsmethoden und Instrumente der Zwangsstörung. In: U. Voderholzer, N. Kathmann, & B. Reuter (Hrsg.). Praxishandbuch Zwangsstörung. München: Elsevier.

Validation and German Translation of the Dimensional Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (DOCS)

The assessment of the severity of obsessive-compulsive disorder is often limited due to the multidimensional nature of the disorder. For example, people with multiple symptom types will achieve higher scores on some questionnaires simply because more items apply to them. In addition, people will achieve higher scores if their symptom patterns match the symptom patterns described in the items. In addition, OCD is often assessed unidimensionally (e.g., stress only) with some current screening and diagnostic instruments. To reduce these limitations, the Dimensional Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (DOCS; Abramowitz et al., 2010) was developed as an instrument to assess OCD.

Click here for the deutschsprachigen Version der DOCS and Validierungsstudie 

Dimensional Obsessive-Compulsive Scale - English and German Short Forms (DOCS-SF)

The DOCS-SF is a short-form questionnaire that asks about the presence of obsessive-compulsive symptoms on four dimensions (e.g., contamination), and then records the level of expression for the currently most stressful domain (e.g., time expenditure, avoidance).

The DOCS-SF is available in German and English.

  • Kühne, F., Paunov, T., Abramowitz, J.S., Fink-Lamotte, J., Hansen, B., Kvale, G., & Weck, F. (2021). Screening for Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms: Validation of the Dimensional Obsessive-Compulsive Scale - English and German Short Forms. Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders, 29, 100625. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jocrd.2021.100625

Validation and translation of the Family Accommodation Scale (FAS-Z) for obsessive-compulsive disorder.

The patient version of the FAS (Wu, Pinto, et al., 2016) is based on the Family Accommodation Scale - Interviewer Rated (FAS-IR; Calvocoressi et al., 1999) and measures obsessive-compulsive symptoms and accommodative behaviors, each assessed by the obsessive-compulsive person. The first part of the scale asks about currently present obsessive-compulsive symptoms using a list of examples. In the second part, 19 items record the frequency of various accommodation behaviors exhibited by a caregiver during the past week. Each of the 19 items measures frequency on a 5-point scale ranging from 0 to 4 (0 = never, 1 = 1 day, 2 = 2-3 days, 3 = 4-6 days, 4 = every day). The total score is composed of all marked item values. The higher the score, the more frequently accommodation behavior is exhibited.  Psychometric analyses conducted by the developers on the 19 items show good characteristics for both reliability (internal consistency of the FAS-PV total score calculated using Cronbach's alpha (α) = . 88 and test-retest reliability calculated using intraclass coefficient (ICC = .62) as well as for validity (convergent validity due to strong positive correlation of the FAS-PV with the Clinical Global Impression-Severity Scale (CGI-S; National Institute of Mental Health, 1997) r = .53, p < .001).

A validation study of the German-language version of the FAS-Z is currently in progress. 

Click here for the German-language  FAS Patientenversion and FAS Angehörigenversion.

Development of the Family Accommodation Scale for Depression (FAS-D).

To examine accommodation behavior in the context of depressive disorders, the FAS-SR and FAS-PV were adapted for depressive disorders. For this purpose, items that in the original versions asked for accommodation of the symptom domains of obsessive thoughts and behaviors relevant in obsessive-compulsive disorders were adapted equivalently to depressive thoughts and moods as well as withdrawal behaviors. The examples given for some items for further explanation were also adapted to depression-specific situations (see, among others, item 4: "My:e relative:r did things that made it possible for me to withdraw because of the depressive thoughts or moods. Examples: declining an invitation for me because I need to withdraw, calling work to say I couldn't come."). Items 4 and 6 were judged to be very obsessive-compulsive items that could not be meaningfully applied to depression and were therefore removed from the scale. Thus, the final scales, the FAS for Depression (FAS-DEP) in both a relative and a patient:in version contained 17 items. The sum score of the FAS-DEP is a measure of the extent of accommodative behavior.

A validation study of the German version of the FAS-DEP is currently in progress. 

Click here for the German version FAS_DEP Patient:innenversion and FAS-DEP Angehörigenversion.

Development and validation of an imagination and video-based Chain of Contagion Task. 

The CCT measures the perception of the degree to which contamination is transferred between previously neutral objects. The task involves subjects estimating the level of contamination of objects sequentially moving away from a contaminated index object. Due to the heterogeneity of contamination fears, subjects are allowed to choose the contaminated object. To do so, they are asked to identify the object in the building that they consider most contaminated (e.g., toilet, trash can) and rate it in terms of contamination level on a scale of 0-100%. The assessment is noted by the person conducting the experiment. In the next step, the person conducting the experiment opens a new box of 12 pencils, takes out one pencil and makes sure that the new pencil is perceived as uncontaminated; then it is systematically rubbed against the contaminated object. The room with the contaminated object is left with the pencils and the subjects rate the level of contamination of pencil #1 on a scale of 0-100%; the contaminated original object is no longer visible. Subsequently, pencil No. 2 is taken from the box and rubbed against pencil No. 1, which had contact with the contaminated object. Now the subject estimates the contamination level of pencil No. 2. This procedure is performed with all 12 pencils in the box, i.e. there are 12 levels of gradual distance from the original contaminated object, for which a contamination rating is asked each time. In this sense, pencil #1 is one level and pencil #12 is 12 levels away from the contaminated index object. To diagnose rigid contamination/disgust experience (Fink-Lamotte, Bieber, Jordan & Exner, submitted), we developed an imagination-based version and a video-based version that can be used in experiments and clinical practice: