A self-report version of the Ways of Responding: Reliability and validity in a clinical sample

Objective: The Ways of Responding (WOR) instrument measures compensatory skills, a central construct in some theories of the mechanism of cognitive therapy for depression. However, the instrument is time-consuming and expensive to use in community settings, because it requires trained independent judges to rate subjects' open-ended written responses to depressogenic scenarios. The present study evaluated the reliability and validity of a self-report version of the WOR (WOR-SR) in a community mental health sample with depressive symptoms (N=467). Method: Subjects completed the WOR-SR, a modified version of the original WOR, and other measures of depressive symptoms, dysfunctional cognitions, functioning, quality of life, and interpersonal problems at multiple time points. Results: An exploratory factor analysis confirmed the two-factor structure of the WOR-SR. The positive and negative subscales both demonstrated excellent internal consistency (Cronbach's alphas=.91) and moderate convergent validity with other measures. Conclusion: The WOR-SR is a reliable and valid measure of compensatory skills in patients receiving treatment for depression at community mental health centers.