Internal consistency and validity assessment of SCL-90-R for bariatric surgery candidates.

BACKGROUND: Preoperative bariatric psychological evaluations often use both a clinical interview and psychometric testing. Given concerns regarding the psychometric properties of some measures, the present study explored the internal consistency reliability and validity of the Symptom Checklist 90 Revised (SCL-90-R) and has provided a preliminary set of norms for the instrument within a bariatric population. Although the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery has included the SCL-90-R as a suggested measure for the assessment of personality and psychopathology, no known studies have reported on the reliability or validity of the SCL-90-R within bariatric samples. METHODS: The present study was completed at a large Midwestern medical center in the United States. SCL-90-R inventories were completed by 322 preoperative bariatric patients as a part of their psychological evaluation. Most patients were women (75.5%), with a mean age of 46.7 ± 10.8 years and a mean body mass index of 50.4 ± 10.9 kg/m(2). RESULTS: The internal consistency coefficients for the 9 subscales were .76-.90. Convergent validity was demonstrated by scale correlations with the data gathered in the clinical interview. CONCLUSION: Compared with other recently studied measures, including the Millon Behavioral Medicine Diagnostic, the SCL-90-R demonstrated good internal consistency and preliminary validity data for bariatric patients. Providers might want to consider the SCL-90-R as a screening measure for bariatric surgery patients.

Telephone-delivered, interpersonal psychotherapy for HIV-infected rural persons with depression: a pilot trial.

OBJECTIVE: Rural areas account for approximately 6% of AIDS cases in the United States. Many HIV-infected persons in rural areas live with elevated levels of psychiatric distress, suicidal ideation, and loneliness. This pilot study tested whether brief interpersonal psychotherapy delivered via telephone could reduce psychiatric distress among persons living with HIV-AIDS in rural areas in the United States. METHODS: Seventy-nine participants were assigned randomly to a usual care control condition or to a six-session, telephone-delivered, interpersonal psychotherapy intervention (hereafter referred to as the teletherapy group); participants in the teletherapy group continued to receive standard services available to them in the community. Participants completed self-administered surveys pre- and postintervention that assessed depressive and psychiatric symptoms, perceptions of loneliness, and social support. RESULTS: Participants in the teletherapy group evidenced greater reductions in depressive symptoms and in overall levels of psychiatric distress, compared with those in the control group. Nearly one-third of teletherapy participants reported clinically meaningful reductions in psychiatric distress from pre- to postintervention. CONCLUSIONS: The telephone-delivered interpersonal therapy intervention showed potential to reduce depressive and psychiatric symptoms among HIV-infected persons in rural areas. On the basis of these encouraging findings, additional research examining this intervention with this clinical population is warranted.