title: Psychometric properties of the Arabic version of the Depressive Cognition Scale in first-year adolescent Egyptian nursing students.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Identifying depressive cognitions in adolescent nursing students can be an important step to prevent the development of clinical depression, which is positively associated with suicide.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study focused on the psychometric testing of the Arabic version of the Depressive Cognition Scale (A-DCS) among 170 first-year adolescent Egyptian nursing students.
  
  
  METHODS
  The questionnaire was assessed for internal consistency, homogeneity, and construct validity using factor analysis and convergent validity.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Cronbach's alpha for (A-DCS) was .86. The homogeneity of the instrument was supported by item-to-total correlations between .30 and .70. Factor extraction generated only one factor with eigenvalues greater than 1, which is consistent with the English version. The (A-DCS) total score had a strong significant correlation with the Alienation Scale scores (r = .51, p < .01), indicating convergent validity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This scale has the potential to become a useful screening tool for depressive cognitions among Egyptian nursing students.
authors.affiliation: College of Nursing, Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53233, USA. abir.bekhet@marquette.edu
authors.forename: Abir K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Bekhet
authors.forename: Jaclene A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Zauszniewski
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D004534:Egypt / Q000453:epidemiology; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011594:Psychometrics; D013338:Students, Nursing / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult