TRANSLATION OF CENTER FOR EPIDEMIOLOGIC STUDIES DEPRESSION SCALE FOR CHILDREN TO TURKISH AND EXAMINATION OF PSYCHOMETRIC CHARACTERISTICS

Objective: The aims of this study is to translate the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale for Children (CES-DC) into Turkish to provide an alternative assessment tool considering the fact that there is only one tool in this area for children and adolescents; and to investigate the basic psychometric characteriscs of this scale. Material and Method: The study was carried on in two phases after the translation of the scale; first one being the preliminary part and the second as the main study. In the preliminary study, 166 girls and 150 boys (total n=316), between the ages of 8 and 18, were in included. In the main part, on the other hand, 1996 girls and 1753 boys (total n=3749), between the ages 6 and 18, were included. Results: In the preliminary study, alpha internal consistency was found to be as 0.83 and scale form was revised with only minor changes in the wordings without changing the meanings of six items which had a total item-total correlation score below 0.35. Expert compliance for the language equivalency of the revised version was obtained as (W=0.28; chi-square (19)=26.54; p>0.05) and we proceeded to the main study. In the main study alpha internal consistency of scale was 0.91 item-total correlation was found between 0.35 and 0.77. Retest application which was done two weeks later, revealed a correlation coefficient score of 0.79 (n=128) between the main study and retest; and a correlation coefficient score of 0.82 (n=1027) between the scale and The Depression Scale for Children which was the main criterion. Conclusion: The Turkish version of Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale for Children was found to be applicable in the target group without any problems by unidimensional evaluation; and that the Turkish versions possess the basic psychometric qualities for screening purposes.