A Cross-Sectional Study of Concurrent Validity of the “Indian Disability Evaluation and Assessment Scale” with the “Sheehan Disability Scale” in Patients with Common Mental Disorders

Background: Worldwide, common mental disorders (CMDs) (depression, anxiety, somatoform disorders) have a high prevalence in the community. About one-third of them experience disability. As the Indian Disability Evaluation and Assessment Scale (IDEAS) was originally designed by the Indian Psychiatric Society to assess disability in severe mental illnesses, it has not been widely used among CMDs. Our objective was to compare and establish a correlation between the level of disability obtained using IDEAS and the Sheehan Disability Scale (SDS) in CMDs. Methods: A cross-sectional assessment of disability was performed among 220 consenting patients with CMDs. Disability scores of IDEAS and SDS were compared and correlated across the three varieties of CMDs. Results: Age, gender, education, socioeconomic class, duration of illness, and duration of treatment exhibited significant differences among the three CMD groups. Both IDEAS and SDS show a milder level of disability; they did not differ significantly in their scores across CMDs. A strong correlation was seen between SDS and IDEAS across most domains. Conclusion: The study revealed strong concurrent validity between the two scales, thus advocating that indigenously designed IDEAS can convincingly assess disability across the CMDs among the Indian population.