Validity of the Beck Depression Inventory in the postpartum period
Objective. While there is a recommendation to screen for postpartum depression (PPD), there are worries about the validity of instruments other than the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale; little is known about the construct validity of one of the most used screening instruments, the Beck Depressi...
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Published in | International journal of psychiatry in clinical practice Vol. 12; no. 1; pp. 81 - 84 |
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Main Authors | , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
England
Informa UK Ltd
2008
Taylor & Francis |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Objective. While there is a recommendation to screen for postpartum depression (PPD), there are worries about the validity of instruments other than the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale; little is known about the construct validity of one of the most used screening instruments, the Beck Depression Inventory, in this period. Methods. This study evaluated the validity and reliability of the BDI in a population-based sample of women and their spouses (n=772) in the postpartum. Additionally, we compared factor scores within the couple. Results. Exploratory factor analysis demonstrated a two-factor solution (depressive symptoms and somatic symptoms), accounting for 44.01% of the total variance. Internal consistency was good (Cronbach's =0.90). Women had higher scores than their partners in both factors (P<0.001), but not a higher proportion of the total score attributable to somatic symptoms. Conclusion. With little factor variance between women and men, and a similar proportion of somatic symptoms, these results should be taken to reinforce the validity of the BDI in the postpartum. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 1365-1501 1471-1788 |
DOI: | 10.1080/13651500701330775 |