A psychometric evaluation of a Chinese version of the Cardiac Depression Scale.
OBJECTIVE
This study aimed to evaluate the validity, reliability, and cultural relevance of the Cardiac Depression Scale (CDS) as a disease-specific screening tool for Chinese cardiac patients.


METHODS
The language equivalency and content validity of the Chinese version of the CDS (C-CDS) were evaluated. Measurement performance was tested on 200 Chinese cardiac patients and repeated on 40 patients for test-retest reliability.


RESULTS
One item pertaining to sexual activity was removed from the Chinese version due to poor cultural relevance. The C-CDS demonstrated acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha of .91 for the total scale and .53-.78 for the subscales). The high correlation (r=.64-.89) between items and the remainder of their own scale provides further evidence of internal consistency. The test-retest reliability was satisfactory with intraclass correlation coefficients of .94 for the overall scale and .73-.92 for the six subscales. The total and subscale scores that were not significantly different (P>.05) over a 2-week period further support the stability of the instrument. There was acceptable concurrent validity with moderate (r>or=.3, P<.001) correlations between the C-CDS and the Chinese version of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Principal component analysis revealed six factors, and one dimension was extracted from the data set, which closely resembles the structure of the original instrument.


CONCLUSIONS
Empirical data support the C-CDS as a valid and reliable disease-specific tool in assessing depressed mood in Chinese-speaking patients with cardiac disease.
Wang
Wenru
W
School of Medicine, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, PR China.
Thompson
David R
DR
Chair
Sek Ying
SY
Hare
David L
DL
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002681:China; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000523:psychology*; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014175:Translating; D055815:Young Adult