title: Cross-cultural validation of the DMI-10 measure of state depression: the development of a Chinese language version.
abstract: Depression measurement tools in cross-cultural research require careful design and thorough validation to ensure that cognitive concepts in one culture can be appropriately translated and applied to a differing culture. The aim of this study was to validate the Chinese version of a screening measure of state depression, the 10-item Depression in Medically Ill (DMI-10), and we report three interdependent studies. An initial bilingual test-retest study identified four (of the 10) items as having poor cross-cultural validity. A second study involved focus groups participants exploring the meaning of translated items with Chinese speakers. The third study repeated the bilingual test-retest analyses on the modified DMI-10 form and demonstrated improved correlation coefficients on all items and an excellent overall correlation (r=0.87) between the Chinese and English versions. The Chinese DMI-10 should prove useful as a tool in cross-cultural research to understand the Chinese experience of depression. The findings of this study have methodological implications for cross-cultural research on depression.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, and Black Dog Institute, Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Bibiana
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: Gordon
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Parker
authors.forename: Lucy
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tully
authors.forename: Maurice
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Eisenbruch
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D044466:Asian People / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001315:Australia; D002681:China / Q000208:ethnology; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D019303:Multilingualism; D010552:Personality Assessment; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011578:Psycholinguistics; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012107:Research Design; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014175:Translating