Comparison of self-reported and informant-reported depressive symptoms in an outpatient neuropsychology clinic sample

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Depressive symptoms are common in patients assessed by neuropsychologists, and these symptoms can have an effect on cognitive functioning. Discrepancies between patient- and informant-reported depressive symptoms have been found in some diagnostic groups, raising concerns as to the value of assessing depressive symptoms via self-report alone. This study aimed to examine the relationship between these discrepancies and cognitive functioning in a heterogeneous outpatient neuropsychological sample. Method: Sixty-two patients with a variety of diagnoses (e.g., stroke, mild cognitive impairment) completed a measure of depressive symptoms and a battery of neuropsychological tests. Informants also rated the patients’ depressive symptoms and completed a measure of the patients’ functional abilities. Results: Patient and informant reports of depressive symptoms were moderately correlated; larger differences between patient- and informant-reported symptoms were associated with poorer verbal learning and memory and greater functional impairments. Conclusions: The moderate level of agreement found for depressive symptoms is consistent with past studies using specific neuropsychological patient groups and other studies in both clinical and non-clinical populations. These results highlight the utility of collecting informant reports of depressive symptoms in neuropsychological evaluations.

KEYWORDS:

• Beck depression inventory
• Depression
• Informant report
• Inventory of depression and anxiety symptoms
• Self-other agreement

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by an American Psychological Association Dissertation Research Award and funding from the University of Iowa Executive Council on Graduate and Professional Students.