An abbreviated version of the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), the CD-RISC2: psychometric properties and applications in psychopharmacological trials

Abstract

Resilience may be an important component of the prevention of neuropsychiatric disease. Resilience has proved to be quantifiable by scales such as the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC). Here, we introduce a two-item version of this scale, the CD-RISC2. We hypothesize that this shortened version of the scale has internal consistency, test-retest reliability, convergent validity, and divergent validity as well as significant correlation with the full scale. Additionally, we hypothesize that the CD-RISC2 can be used to assess pharmacological modification of resilience. We test these hypotheses by utilizing data from treatment trials of post-traumatic stress disorder, major depression, and generalized anxiety disorder with setraline, mirtazapine, fluoxetine, paroxetine, venlafaxine XR, and kava as well as data from the general population, psychiatric outpatients, and family medicine clinic patients.

Figures

Figure 1

Mean CD-RISC2 scores at baseline across groups. (1=General population, 2=Family Medicine outpatients, 3=Psychiatric outpatients, 4=Depressed patients, 5=GAD patients, 6=PTSD patients)