Experts in the treatment of depression have emphasized the importance of striving for remission. Studies have shown that depressed patients who respond to treatment but do not achieve remission, currently defined as a lack of symptoms, continue to experience greater likelihood of continued impairment and future recurrence of depression. However, there is much debate as to how to properly define remission and if the definitions currently used adequately represent the construct. If remission is to be the primary goal of treatment for depression, it is important to use an empirically validated definition. There is also a need to develop tools that can comprehensively assess remission yet be feasibly administered by clinicians in their clinical practice to identify remitted patients. The goal of this Phase I project is to develop an instrument, the Remission from Depression Questionnaire (RDQ) that will provide a multi-faceted assessment of remission from major depressive disorder (MOD). This is in contrast to current definitions of remission that rely exclusively on symptom-based indices. The specific aims of Phase I of the current project are: to generate content rendering a more comprehensive representation of factors related to remission through the use of both patient- and clinician-based focus groups; to use the content generated in the groups towards the composition of preliminary items for the RDQ; to assess the relevance and comprehensibility of preliminary items among patients with depression, modifying items based on patient feedback; to assess the practicality of using the scale in clinical practice; and to examine the comparative relevance of the scale in addressing patient goals relative to the most commonly used self-report, symptom-based measure of depression. At the completion of Phase I we will have developed a comprehensive, understandable measure of remission from depression that is practical to use in clinical practice. Phase II will concern a more rigorous examination of the validity and psychometric properties of the RDQ and will establish the prognostic and incremental validity of the measure over existing symptom-based definitions of remission
