2017 Volume 9 Issue 1 Pages 17-32
A Japanese version of the self-rating format of the Panic and Agoraphobia Scale (PAS) was developed and its reliability and validity were investigated. Outpatients diagnosed with panic disorder or agoraphobia according to the DSM-IV-TR were assessed using both the clinician-administered version of the PAS and the self-rating format of the PAS on the first clinic visit, after 3 days, and after 4 weeks. We found that the self-rating PAS showed sufficient reliability, especially when untreated patients were educated about their disease before the treatment. However, the Pearson's coefficient of correlation between the self-rating PAS and the Global Impression-Improvement score was not highly significant as the correlation between the clinician-administered PAS and the Global Impression-Improvement score. Our results indicate that the clinician-administered PAS should be used as a primary test while the self-rating PAS should be used as a secondary test in clinical research.
