Cross-cultural implementation of a Chinese version of the Schedules for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry (SCAN) in Taiwan.

<bold>Background: </bold>There are no published reports of cross-cultural equivalence and interrater reliability at the level of individual symptom items assessed by a semi-structured clinical interview employing operationalised clinician ratings.<bold>Aims: </bold>To assess the cross-cultural clinical equivalence and reliability of a Chinese version of the World Health Organization Schedules for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry (SCAN).<bold>Method: </bold>UK-US and Taiwanese groups of psychiatrists used Chinese and English transcripts of videotape interviews of Taiwanese patients to discuss cross-cultural issues and ratings of SCAN items. Item ratings were compared quantitatively individually and pooled by SCAN section.<bold>Results: </bold>Chinese equivalents were found for all SCAN items. No between-group differences were found for most individual items, but there were differences for some scaled items. Average agreement between the two groups was 69-100%.<bold>Conclusions: </bold>Cross-cultural implementation based on SCAN in Taiwan appears valid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]