Internal Consistency and Test-Retest Stability of the Geriatric Depression Scale-Short Form in African American Older Adults

The Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) is one of the most widely used self-rated mood questionnaires for older adults. It is highly correlated with clinical diagnoses of depression and has demonstrated validity across different patient populations. However, the reliability of the GDS among African American older adults remains to be firmly established. In a baseline sample of 401 African American adults age 51 and over, the GDS-15 item short form demonstrates good internal consistency (KR20 = .71). Stability over a 15-month interval in a retest sample of 51 adults is deemed adequate (r = .68). These findings support the use of the GDS-15 item short form as a reliable mood questionnaire among African American older adults.     

Factor structure and use of the hospital anxiety and depression scale in the homeless and socially marginalized

The homeless have been identified as a group at risk of significant anxiety and depression and screening is therefore highly desirable to identify those needing psychological and psychiatric support. However, the psychometric properties of routine screening instruments have yet to be established in this group. This study sought to determine the psychometric properties of the widely used Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale in this group. Using a cross-sectional design, 314 clients presenting at homelessness units (shelters) supported by The Salvation Army were administered the HADS. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed three-factor models offered the best fit to the data (best-fit model CFI = .98, RMSEA = .06, WRMR = .87). This investigation confirms contemporary research findings that the HADS comprises an underlying tri-dimensional factor structure. However, the internal consistency of the HADS anxiety (alpha = .81) and depression (alpha = .90) sub-scales was excellent. The findings of the current study suggest that the HADS is a suitable screening tool in this group.     

A psychometric evaluation of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale during pregnancy

The utility of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) as a screening instrument for anxiety and depression during pregnancy was investigated. A maximum likelihood factor analysis was conducted on the HADS to determine its psychometric properties and utility in 100 women from two culturally diverse populations (UK and Uzbekistan) at 12-weeks and 34-weeks pregnancy. The findings suggest that the HADS lacks the internal reliability requirements of a clinical assessment tool in this population. There was little evidence found to suggest that the HADS measures two dimensions of anxiety and depression consistently and reliably. The findings from this study suggest that the HADS could not be recommended as a clinical screening tool for anxiety and depression in pregnant women. Further research in this area is both desirable and required.     

Factor structure and psychometric characteristics of the beck depression inventory-II

The present study evaluated the factor structure and psychometric properties of the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II; Beck, Steer, & Brown, 1996) in the nonclinical sample of 230 young adults. The BDI-II is a revised version of the BDI-IA. We evaluated the fit of three alternative models to the sample data, using confirmatory factor analysis. Results provided support for the fit of the oblique three-factor model. The BDI-II and factor scales had satisfactory coefficient alpha indices. We obtained gender differences on the BDI-II item, total, and factor scale scores. We examined the relations of the BDI-II with demographic variables and with other self-report measures of social desirability, anxiety, depression, stress, and self-esteem. We also examined the issue of whether specific self-report measures of anxiety and depression assess separate or different constructs. We discuss the limitations of the present study.     

The validity of the hospital anxiety and depression scale and the geriatric depression scale in Parkinson's disease

We assessed the concurrent validity of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) against the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (Ham-D) in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). Forty-six non-demented PD patients were assessed by a neurologist on the Ham-D. Patients also completed four mood rating scales: the HADS, the GDS, the VAS and the Face Scale. For the HADS and the GDS, Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) curves were obtained and the positive and negative predictive values (PPV, NPV) were calculated for different cut-off scores. Maximum discrimination between depressed and non-depressed PD patients was reached at a cut-off score of 10/11 for both the HADS and the GDS. At the same cut-off score of 10/11 for both the HADS and the GDS, the high sensitivity and NPV make these scales appropriate screening instruments for depression in PD. A high specificity and PPV, which is necessary for a diagnostic test, was reached at a cut-off score of 12/13 for the GDS and at a cut-off score of 11/12 for the HADS. The results indicate the validity of using the HADS and the GDS to screen for depressive symptoms and to diagnose depressive illness in PD.     

Model stability of the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale across cognitive impairment and severe depression

The 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) is used in a wide variety of clinical and research settings. The study's purpose was to further establish the validity of the 15-item GDS by exploring the underlying factor structure in a healthy, nondemented sample of older adults and then analyzing whether this factor structure remained stable across a sample of demented individuals and a sample of individuals with a history of depression 6 months after discharge from an inpatient psychiatric setting. A 2-factor model fit the data best in the exploratory analyses. The 2 factors, Life Satisfaction and General Depressive Affect, found in the nondemented sample (r = .39) remained stable across cognitive impairment (r = .12) but merged into a 1-factor model in the psychiatric sample (r = .93). The results indicate that nondepressed older adults with poor life satisfaction may be identified as depressed on screening instruments such as the 15-item GDS.     

Spanish-language measures of mania and depression

Efforts to better understand bipolar spectrum disorders across ethnic groups are often hampered by the lack of commonly used self-report instruments to assess mania and depression in individuals who speak languages other than English. This article describes the translation into Spanish of 2 self-report measures of manic symptoms (i.e., the Internal State Scale and the Hypomanic Personality Scale) and 2 self-report measures of depression (i.e., the Inventory to Diagnose Depression and the Inventory to Diagnose Depression, Lifetime version). The authors translated these measures into Spanish and assessed their psychometric properties among bilingual college students (N = 88). Results suggest that the Spanish versions have psychometric properties comparable to the English versions of the instruments.     

Examination of the Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire-3 in a mixed-gender young-adolescent sample

Thin-ideal (or media) internalization is an important eating disorder risk factor that has become a central target of many prevention programs. However, evidence for its valid assessment in young, mixed-gender, adolescent samples is limited, and the current study is the first to explore the psychometric properties of the 30-item Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire-3 (SATAQ-3; J. Thompson, P. van den Berg, M. Roehrig, A. S. Guarda, & L. J. Heinberg, 2004) in a nonadult community sample. Two samples of Grade 8 students (M age = 13.68 years), totaling 680 girls (N = 332) and boys (N = 348) completed the SATAQ-3 and other measures, whereas a smaller sample (N = 123) of Grade 10 girls (M age = 15.01 years) served as a comparison group for supplementary analyses. Principal component analyses (PCA) with data from Sample 1 (N = 201) revealed 4 factors with eigenvalues > 1.0, similar to the original authors' structure but with some cross-loading occurring between the Pressures and Internalization-General scales. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) were conducted with data from Sample 2 (N = 479) on the factor solution found in the PCA. The model did not fit well, leading to further revisions based on removal of cross-loading items and CFA modification indices, resulting in a 19-item, 4-factor solution with acceptable fit. Examinations of validity and reliability were generally acceptable. The overall findings suggest that an abbreviated version of the SATAQ-3 might be more appropriate than the original version with young-adolescent, mixed-gender audiences. Further examinations of the psychometric properties of the SATAQ-3 with this demographic are indicated.     

Depression: Psychological Referrals in Nursing Homes

Studies in nursing homes have consistently shown the presence of mental health disorders. We assessed 300 nursing home residents (referred for psychological testing) to provide preliminary data on referral patterns, assess the cognitive and affective patterns of residents with different diagnoses, and present psychometric data on depression measures, including the Beck Depression Scale (BDI) (as a bivariate index) and the Mood Scale (a shortened version of the Geriatric Depression Scale). Results show that the referrals involved a compromised group of residents, both cognitively and affectively. Despite obvious mean differences, a MANOVA revealed that Major Depressive Disorder did not differ significantly from the Adjustment Disorder and Dementia groups on the bivariate BDI and Mood Scale; the dementia group was lower than the depression and adjustment groups on the MMSE. Patterns on depression inventories also identified a correct classification score of 4 on the BDI (89%) and 3 on the Mood Scale (79%). Discussion endorsed use of the bivariate BDI and addressed depression in these facilities.     

Psychometric evaluation of the Geriatric Depression Scale and the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale using an elderly community sample

In this study the psychometric properties of the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) and the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) were evaluated and compared, using a relatively large elderly community sample. The GDS generally performed well, replicating earlier findings from a different population. Also, as hypothesized, the SDS, which has a multiple-choice format, had a higher non-completion rate than the GDS, which has a true-false format. Finally, no significant differences between the responses of young-old and old-old subjects were observed.     

Psychometric Qualities of Turkish Version of Perseverative Thinking Questionnaire (PTQ)

Repetitive negative thinking (RNT) is an umbrella term that refers to an individual’s tendency to have negative thoughts in an uncontrollable and repetitive manner regardless of their content and temporal focus. RNT is suggested to be a transdiagnostic factor that may be associated with vulnerability for many different psychological disorders. The aim of the present study is to examine the psychometric qualities of Perseverative Thinking Questionnaire (PTQ), which is a scale that assesses non-disorder-specific form of RNT. The data was gathered from 446 Turkish individuals between the ages of 18 and 58 years through a web based data collection method. In addition to PTQ, the participants also completed questionnaires that measure worry, rumination, anxiety, depression, and thought suppression. Two models were tested, and CFA revealed a better fit for the 3-factor model. Results indicated that the scale has satisfactory levels of internal consistency, split-half reliability, and test–retest reliability. Further, correlation analyses showed moderate correlations with measures of worry, rumination, anxiety, and depression; which is indicative of satisfactory levels of both convergent and concurrent validity. In sum, Turkish version of PTQ is a psychometrically sound measure that researchers can utilize in research focusing on transdiagnostic processes.     

Weight Bias Internalization Scale Discriminates Obese and Overweight Patients with Different Severity Levels of Depression: the Italian Version of the WBIS

We have investigated the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the weight bias internalization scale (WBIS) in overweight and obese patients who were attending weight loss programs. Participants were 386 overweight and obese patients admitted in two medical centers specializing in the treatment of obesity. All the patients were administered the WBIS, and measures of binge eating, depression, self-esteem, and body dissatisfaction. Confirmatory factor analysis failed to confirm the fit of the original 11-item unidimensional model. Item analysis and exploratory factor analysis indicated that 9 items included in the original measure (the items 1 and 9 were excluded because low item-total correlations) formed a reliable unidimensional measure of internalized weight bias (WBIS-9). The WBIS-9 was significantly correlated with convergent measures and was able to categorize individuals with different severity levels of depression (sensitivity of 0.72 and specificity of 0.70). The WBIS-9 may be useful in clinical practice to discriminate patients with more severe psychopathology, comorbid disordered eating patterns, and risk for poor outcomes.     

Psychometric properties of the beck depression inventory-II with university students in Bahrain.

The Arabic version of the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II; Beck, Steer, & Brown, 1996) was administered to 200 students enrolled at the University of Bahrain. Using exploratory and confirmatory factor analytic techniques, I obtained reasonable validity and reliability data for the BDI-II. Three oblique factors provided the most parsimonious and meaningful solution for students' responses. Findings of this study generally provide strong support for the psychometric soundness of the BDI-II as a measure of depression in college student populations even in Arabic culture, which differs dramatically from Western culture in both values and taboos.     

Validity of the GDS-4 revisited

This article points out several flaws in an earlier article (Chau, Martin, Thompson, Chang, & Woo, 2006). We note that Chau, Martin, Thompson, Chang, and Woo (2006) had misquoted our work on a 4-item version of the geriatric depression scale (GDS), and the work of the research team, which developed the original 30-item and 15-item versions of the scale. Furthermore, their data analytic methods were flawed, and their conclusions were often not supported by the data they presented. On the basis of these observations, we found no evidence against the use of the 4-item version of the GDS.     

Psychometric properties of the Norwegian version of the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (Form A)

The present study reports the reliability and validity of the Norwegian version of the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale in non-clinical and clinical populations. The participants were 344 young male military recruits, 41 healthy controls and 142 psychiatric outpatients. All the participants completed the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory and the Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire. The analysis of the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale revealed a Cronbach's alpha of 0.85, indicating satisfactory reliability. Evidence for the construct validity was obtained by the correlation between the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale and the Beck Depression Inventory (r = 0.47) and the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale and the Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire (r = 0.47). Finally, the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale significantly discriminated between clinically depressed, non-depressed psychiatric patients and healthy controls. The results showed that the Norwegian version of the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale possess satisfactory psychometric properties suggesting that this instrument is appropriate for use as a cognitive measure in a Norwegian cultural context.     

A Counselor's Guide to the Assessment of Depression

This article discusses various methods and procedures for assessing depression in clients. The following eight clinician rating and client self-report measures of depression are reviewed on the basis of their psychometric properties and applied pragmatic utility: the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression, the Beck Depression Inventory, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Scale 2 (Depression), the Depression Adjective Checklists, the Multiple Affect Adjective Checklist, the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale, the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-90, and the Children's Depression Inventory.     

A short form of the metacognitions questionnaire: properties of the MCQ-30

The metacognitions questionnaire (MCQ) measures individual differences in a selection of metacognitive beliefs, judgments and monitoring tendencies considered important in the metacognitive model of psychological disorders. The development and properties of a shortened 30-item version of the MCQ, the MCQ-30, are reported. Construct validity was evaluated by confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis. Overall, the fit indices suggested an acceptable fit to a five-factor model consistent with the original MCQ. Exploratory factor analysis supported a five-factor structure, which was almost identical to the original solution obtained in previous studies with the full MCQ. The five factors are cognitive confidence, positive beliefs about worry, cognitive self-consciousness, negative beliefs about uncontrollability of thoughts and danger, and beliefs about need to control thoughts. The MCQ-30 showed good internal consistency and convergent validity, and acceptable to good test-retest reliability. Positive relationships between metacognitions and measures of worry and obsessive-compulsive symptoms provided further support for the validity of the measure and the metacognitive theory of intrusive thoughts. The psychometric properties of MCQ-30 suggest that the instrument is a valuable addition to the assessment of metacognitions that has the advantage of being more economical to use compared with the original MCQ.     

An investigation into the psychometric properties of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale in individuals with chronic fatigue syndrome

The study sought to determine the psychometric properties of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) in individuals with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) assessed using a web-based data collection tool. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted on the HADS to determine its psychometric properties in 117 individuals with CFS. Seven models were tested to determine model fit to the data. Internal reliability estimations of the anxiety and depression sub-scales were found to be acceptable, however, a three-factor model was found to provide a significantly better fit to the data when compared to the bi-dimensional two-factor structure previously assumed to underpin the HADS' construct validity. The clinical utility of the HADS in the assessment of anxiety and depression in CFS appears to be fundamentally compromised by the presence of a three-dimensional underlying factor structure. Future revision of the HADS is recommended if the instrument is to be used reliably to screen CFS patients.     

Psychometric properties of the Norwegian version of the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (Form A)

The present study reports the reliability and validity of the Norwegian version of the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale in non‐clinical and clinical populations. The participants were 344 young male military recruits, 41 healthy controls and 142 psychiatric outpatients. All the participants completed the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory and the Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire. The analysis of the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale revealed a Cronbach's alpha of 0.85, indicating satisfactory reliability. Evidence for the construct validity was obtained by the correlation between the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale and the Beck Depression Inventory (r?=?0.47) and the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale and the Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire (r?=?0.47). Finally, the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale significantly discriminated between clinically depressed, non‐depressed psychiatric patients and healthy controls. The results showed that the Norwegian version of the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale possess satisfactory psychometric properties suggesting that this instrument is appropriate for use as a cognitive measure in a Norwegian cultural context.     

The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale: a pilot study to examine its latent structure and the link between psychological state and symptom severity in transient ischaemic attack patients

Transient ischaemic attack (TIA) is often associated with anxiety and depression, which may precipitate secondary stroke and interfere with treatment. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) is widely used to assess these states and to inform the management of any associated psychological problems, but there is considerable debate about what it actually measures. The HADS scores from a range of different clinical groups have been reviewed in order to assess its psychometric properties, but so far, no research has examined either its latent structure when used with TIA patients, or the association between symptom severity and the test’s validity. The aims of this study, therefore, were to investigate: (a) the underlying structure of the HADS when used with TIA patients; and (b) the impact of symptom severity on the validity of the HADS. The HADS and a functional capacity measure were administered by post to a sample of 542 confirmed TIA patients. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted on the HADS scores to establish its underlying structure for this clinical group, and then, sub-sample correlations were undertaken between the anxiety/depression scores for different levels of functional capacity. Two factors emerged, with 13 of the 14 HADS items loading significantly on both, suggesting there is a common affective state underlying the standard anxiety and depression scales. Further data-exploration indicated that convergence between these affective states increased as functional capacity deteriorated. The results suggest firstly that the HADS measures general subjective distress when used with TIA patients, and secondly that the higher reported symptom severity in this clinical group may be associated with reduced affective differentiation. As the ability to retain clear affective discrimination is associated with health and well-being, this could provide a focus for post-TIA rehabilitation.