Department of Medicine, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.
BMC Med Res Methodol. 2010 Feb 9;10:12. doi: 10.1186/1471-2288-10-12.
For the purposes of our research programme we needed a simple, reliable and validated method for allowing choice of a color in response to a series of questions. On reviewing the literature no such instrument was available and this study aimed to rectify this situation. This was achieved by developing a simple method of presenting a series of colors to people validating it in healthy volunteers and in individuals where color choice might be distorted, namely anxiety and depression.
A series of different presentations of four shades of eight colors and grey, as well as black and white were evaluated. 'Mood', 'favourite' and 'drawn to' colors were assessed in 105 healthy, 108 anxious and 110 depressed participants. The positive, neutral or negative attribution of these colors was recorded in a further 204 healthy volunteers.
The circular presentation of colors was most favoured (Color Wheel). Yellow was the most 'drawn to' color and blue the commonest 'favourite' color in all subjects. Yellow was most often associated with a normal mood and grey with an anxious or depressed mood. Different shades of the same color had completely different positive or negative connotations. Reproducibility was exceptionally high when color choice was recorded in positive, neutral or negative terms.
The Color Wheel could be used to assess health status, mood or even treatment outcome in a variety of clinical situations. It may also have utility in circumstances where verbal communication may not be optimal, such as with children.
为了我们的研究计划，我们需要一种简单、可靠且经过验证的方法，以便在一系列问题中选择颜色。在回顾文献时，我们没有发现这样的工具，因此本研究旨在纠正这种情况。我们通过开发一种简单的方法来呈现一系列颜色来实现这一目标，该方法在健康志愿者和可能存在颜色选择扭曲的个体（即焦虑和抑郁患者）中进行了验证。
评估了四种八种颜色和灰色以及黑色和白色的不同呈现方式。在 105 名健康志愿者、108 名焦虑症患者和 110 名抑郁症患者中评估了“情绪”、“最喜欢的”和“被吸引的”颜色。在另外 204 名健康志愿者中记录了这些颜色的积极、中性或消极属性。
颜色的圆形呈现方式最受欢迎（色轮）。在所有受试者中，黄色是最“被吸引”的颜色，蓝色是最常见的“最喜欢”的颜色。黄色通常与正常情绪相关，灰色与焦虑或抑郁情绪相关。同一颜色的不同色调具有完全不同的积极或消极含义。当以积极、中性或消极的术语记录颜色选择时，可重复性非常高。
色轮可用于评估各种临床情况下的健康状况、情绪，甚至治疗效果。在言语交流可能不是最佳选择的情况下，例如与儿童交流，它也可能具有实用性。
