PROFESSIONAL ASSESSMENT INSTRUMENTS







Section 1 - Clinical Assessment Tools and Ordering Information
Section 2 - Translating our Instruments from English
Section 3 - CET presents an online AutoSIGH assessment for your patients










SECTION 1

The Clinical Assessment Tool Collection

CET's Clinical Assessment Tools were designed and produced by the Clinical Chronobiology and Biometrics Research groups at Columbia University's Psychiatric Institute. The instruments provide state-of-the-art structured interviews for clinicians to rate the severity of depression (including atypical symptoms) and hypomania, and self-rating versions for patients to complete for clinician review. In addition, there is a diagnostic interview for Atypical Depression keyed to DSM-IV-TR criteria for atypical features, and a paper-and-pencil version of the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire also presented in an on-line automated version on this website. For patients considering light therapy, there is a structured eye-screening chart for completion by optometrists and ophthalmologists, and a sleep log to help in specifying the prescribed interval for light therapy. For use after treatment begins, we offer a comprehensive questionnaire for monitoring side effects.

See order information below. As a supplement to the Clinical Assessment Tools, orders for hard copy include an extensive set of literature reprints that support the use of these instruments in research and clinical practice.




Contents:

  • Personal Inventory for Depression and SAD (PIDS), with scoring and interpretation guide. Surveys the presence
       of symptoms of depression, using a validated diagnostic algorithm (PRIME-MD). Also probes for seasonal pattern
       of the symptoms and presence of atypical neurovegetative features. An interpretation guide is included for use
       by clinicians in patient pre-screening. Can be completed in the waiting room or sent to prospective patients.
    •


  • Personal Inventory for Depression and SAD - Self-Assessment Version (PIDS-SA), with scoring and
       interpretation guide, to help determine whether a clinical consultation for SAD is indicated. (See feedback
       examples on the automated version, AutoPIDS-SA, on this website.)

    •


  • Structured Interview Guide for the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale with Atypical Depression Supplement
       (SIGH-ADS 2003). This instrument, derived from the SIGH-SAD, has been re-designed for general use in
       depression research and clinical evaluation, regardless of seasonality. The questions have greater specificity
       those in the SIGH-SAD and the flow of questioning is distinctly smoother. The SIGH-ADS rates the severity of
       depressive symptoms in terms of Hamilton's 17- and 21-item depression scales and the NIMH/Columbia
       addendum of 8 atypical symptoms. For archival reference, we also include the final edition of the SIGH-SAD
       2002 with scoring, administration and interpretation guide.

    •


  • Self-Report Summary [Structured Interview Guide for the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale - Seasonal Affective
       Disorder Version. Self-Rating Version (SIGH-SAD-SR)], with scoring and interpretation guide for clinicians. This
       version can be used as a stand-alone instrument for outpatient monitoring, or for reliability checks against
       interviewer ratings on the SIGH-SAD. (See feedback examples on the automated version, AutoSIGH, on this
       website.)

    •


  • Hypomania Interview Guide (including Hyperthymia) - Current Assessment Version (HIGH-C). The HIGH-C
       measures the pattern and severity of symptoms that characterize hyperthymia, hypomania, and mania.
       A subset of the items can be used to provide a provisional DSM-IV diagnosis of current Hypomanic Episode or
       lifetime Bipolar II disorder. We recommend using the HIGH-SAD in conjunction with the SIGH-ADS to quantify
       hypomanic overresponse to antidepressant treatment as well as to ascertain mixed states in patients with bipolar disorder.


    •

  • Self-Report Summary [Hypomania Interview Guide (including Hyperthymia) - Current Assessment Version. Self-
       Rating Version (HIGH-C-SR)], with combined instruction guide for the HIGH instruments. Especially useful for
       outpatient monitoring.

    •


  • Hypomania Interview Guide (including Hyperthymia) - Retrospective Assessment Version (HIGH-R), with DSM-IV
       scoring algorithm and interpretation guide. The HIGH-R provides a provisional lifetime diagnosis irrespective of
       current clinical state.

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  • Diagnostic Interview for Atypical Depression (DIAD), including instruction and interpretation guide. The DIAD is a
       structured interview that allows the rater to assess atypical symptoms of depression based on both DSM-IV
       and Columbia criteria. This new instrument was designed to ease questioning on the sensitive issue of rejection
       sensitivity and to increase the specificity and reliability of the diagnosis.

    •

  • Morningness-Evening Questionnaire (MEQ) of Horne and Östberg (revised for smooth presentation in “American
       English”). As illustrated by the feedback section of the automated version (AutoMEQ) on this website, the
       instrument is used to gauge circadian rhythm phase (in a reflection of melatonin onset) and derive the optimum
       timing for morning light therapy. The MEQ score conversion table is presented in M. and J. Terman's how-to
       chapter    , a free download on our Recommended Professional Reading page.

    •


  • The Columbia Eye Check-Up for Users of Light Treatment, a structured chart for ophthalmologists and
       optometrists to determine whether there are any contraindications for use of bright light therapy or periodic
       monitoring is indicated. For a review of safety considerations, see the review by Terman et al., a free download
       on our Recommended Professional Reading page.

    •

  • Systematic Assessment for Treatment Emergent Effects (SAFTEE) - Self-Rating Version. A checklist adaptation
       of the comprehensive NIMH interview, used to detect and monitor side effects of light, negative air ion or drug
       treatment.

    •


  • Daily Sleep Log and Mood/Energy Ratings for monitoring pre- and posttreatment patterns, and determining and
       adjusting the timing of light treatment for optimum response. At Columbia’s Center for Light Treatment and
       Biological Rhythms, all inpatients and outpatients maintain this log for weekly review of progress, side effects
       (such as fractionated sleep and early morning awakening), compliance/adherence and scheduling.



    •

    Ordering Information

    CET provides this ensemble of instruments, scoring and interpretation guides, and background literature in three convenient formats, depending on your needs:

    For promptest delivery, order using your credit card:


    or you or your institution may mail a check (prepaid, drawn on a U.S. bank) payable to:

    Center for Environmental Therapeutics
    337 West 20th Street, Suite 4M
    New York, NY 10011







    SECTION 2


    The CET Translation Project

    Important information for clinicians and researchers in non-English-speaking countries:

    Use of the SIGH-ADS and other structured interviews in our collection should not rely on ad hoc translations, which the authors do not endorse, and which violate copyright. Such translations introduce scoring variability that distorts results. There is only one psychometrically adequate solution: the author-approved back-translation protocol.

    A local translator with clinical expertise (not the Principal Investigator) uses a prepared Word template to create a draft in the target language. This document is then given to a general translator, who uses a clean template to back-translate the draft into English without ever seeing the original English version. The back-translator is not a clinical specialist, for two reasons: (1) to avoid “mechanical” lapses into rote technical terminology and jargon, which can hide misunderstanding of the underlying concepts; and (2) to present the stem and probe questions of the structured interview in a conversational tone that does not assume an advanced education level. If necessary, the back-translator consults the Principal Investigator if a technical/clinical term or concept is unclear.

    The back translation is then returned to the authors for a line-by-line review. The authors pose questions about any detail that apparently does not reflect the intention of the original English version. Use of English colloquialisms – which is essential to the conversational presentation – is clarified. Cultural adjustments are debated and negotiated. Confused technical/clinical meaning is clarified. Such review often involves extensive correspondence between the authors and the Principal Investigator (not the original translator), whose responsibility is to adjust the final translated text and obtain the authors' approval. The translation team is credited in the new print version of the instrument, and author-approval is noted. Ensuing publications cite the translation protocol.

    Translations have been completed in Danish, German, Russian and Turkish. CET seeks sponsorship for French and Spanish versions of the SIGH-ADS, HIGH-C and DIAD, which have been frequently requested.

    Preparation of translations involves considerable effort of both the U.S. and target-language teams, and the associated preparatory expenses may need to be covered by grant or commercial clinical trials budgets. The translated version retains the authors' copyright assignment to CET. Permission is granted for gratis use of the instruments in clinical practice or university, hospital or government sponsored research. For industry-sponsored clinical trials, CET applies a standard royalty schedule. All proceeds are used for further development of CET’s research and education programs. If an industry sponsor covers preparatory costs of the translation, that amount is deductible from royalties. To discuss a proposed translation, please contact translationproject@cet.org.





     

    SECTION 3


    Clinicians: Extend your accountability with online self-ratings of patient progress!

    CET is pleased to provide you a unique online, self-rated version of the SIGH-ADS 2003 (with 17 Hamilton items and 8 atypical symptom items), which will generate a total score and item analysis for your patients. They can print out the results, bring them to you at intake or follow-up evaluations, report scores by phone or email, or email or fax the detailed feedback as frequently as weekly. Our objective is to assist you in monitoring treatment progress, state-changes after dose adjustments, and status following discontinuation. Take advantage of a Columbia-validated, structured-interview-based depression scale assessment that may be infeasible to administer in vivo within your 50-minute hour. CET assures patient anonymity in the database. Click here for the AutoSIGH, which your patients can access free-of-charge in our Self-Assessments section.