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Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale-Shopping Version (YBOCS-SV)

Brief Description:
• Monahan, Black, & Gabel (1996)
• Revised version of the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (YBOCS)
• Created to assess both the cognitive and behaviour of compulsive buying as well as to rate the severity of the problem
• Views problem buying as an obsessive-compulsive disorder

Type of Measure:
• Interview rated scale
• 5-point Likert scale
• 10 items; 5 which rate preoccupations, 5 which rate behaviours

Target Population:
• Adult
• Used in a study of compulsive buyers in Germany (Mueller, Mitchell, Mertens, Mueller, Silbermann, Burgard, & Zwaan, 2007)

Scoring:
• Item scores range from 0 (complete control) to 4 (no control)

Psychometrics:
Source Article: Monahan et al. (1996): 9 compulsive buyers taking medication for their disorder, and 8 participants from within the Psychiatry Department
• Reliability: Good to excellent inter-rater reliability and internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha was 0.65 for compulsive buyers and 0.97 for the comparison group); moderate test-retest findings (followed up every week for 9 weeks); evidence of content validity; moderate correlation with the Faber and O’Guinn Compulsive Buying Scale during screening; correlated with the Clinical Global Impression Scale with severity of Illness (CGI-I) during all follow-ups
• Validity: construct (convergent and discriminate)
• Sensitive to clinical change

Utility for Prevalence Surveys:
• Fair

Research Applicability:
• Designed as a measure for assessing clinical change

Copyright, Cost, and Source Issues:
• Public domain – available in source reference

 

Source References:
Monahan, P., Black, D. W., & Gabel, J. (1996). Reliability and validity of a scale to measure change in persons with compulsive buying. Psychiatry Research, 64, 59-67.

Reference Found in:
Black, D. W. (2001). Compulsive buying disorder: Definition, assessment, epidemiology and clinical management. CNS Drugs, 15(1), 17-27.

Strengths:
• Original scale (York-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale) had high validity and reliability

Weaknesses:
• Not designed to make a diagnosis