The Obsessive–Compulsive Inventory-Revised (OCI-R): Validation of the German version in a sample of patients with OCD, anxiety disorders, and depressive disorders

The OCI-R is a psychometrically sound and valid self-report scale measuring the major symptoms of OCD on six dimensions: Checking, Washing, Ordering, Hoarding, Obsessing, and Neutralizing. Information is needed on its ability to discriminate OCD from depression. In this study, reliability and convergent, divergent, and known-groups validity of an authorized German version were examined in 381 patients with OCD, other anxiety and depressive disorders. Confirmatory factor analyses replicated the original six-factor structure in each sample. Moreover, results indicated good convergent, divergent, and known-groups validity for the full scale and the subscales in each sample, only a slight construct overlap between OCD and depression, anxiety, pathological worry, and perfectionism, and the relationships of the subscales with obsessive–compulsive personality features supported its construct validity. Previous findings for the original scale were replicated and extended in a different cultural context. However, the domains Neutralizing and Obsessions need further development.