Validation of the children's depression rating scale- revised for adolescents in primary-care pediatric use in India.

Abstract
Background: Adolescent depression needs to be identified and treated in the primary care settings. There is no clinician-rated measure validated in India for identifying depression among adolescents. Aim: We studied the diagnostic accuracy, reliability, and validity of Children's Depression Rating Scale - Revised (CDRS-R) for primary care pediatrics. Setting and Design: Prospective study in three schools in Southern India. Materials And Methods: Adolescents recruited were administered the CDRS-R by a pediatrician and clinical psychologist along with Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) for convergent validity. Impact of Event Scale (IES) for divergent validity and the ICD-10 clinical diagnosis of depressive disorders using modified Kiddie-SADS-Present and Lifetime Version (K-SADS-PL) interview as reference standard were administered by a psychiatrist independently. Appropriate statistical analyses for diagnostic accuracy, reliability, and validity were done. Results: A cut-off score of 30 (sensitivity = 83%, specificity = 84%; AUC in ROC = 87%) in CDRS-R is suggested for diagnosing depression. The inter-rater reliability (r = 0.73) and test-retest reliability (r = 0.98) was good. In addition to the adequate face and content validity, CDRS-R had good internal consistency (α = 0.76), high convergent (r = 0.71; P = 0.001), and divergent validity (r = 0.28; P = 0.20). There was moderate concordance with the reference standard of ICD-10 diagnosis (45.5%) in identifying depression and CDRS-R discriminated 80% of the other psychiatric morbidity. The six-factor structure explained 60.6% of variance. Conclusion: The CDRS-R showed strong psychometric properties and is now available for use in the primary-care pediatric practice in India.
Description
Keywords
Adolescents, depressive disorder, India rating scales
Citation
Basker Mona M, Russell Paul Swamidhas Sudhakar, Russell Sushila, Moses Prabhakar D. Validation of the children's depression rating scale- revised for adolescents in primary-care pediatric use in India. Indian Journal of Medical Sciences. 2010 Feb; 64(2) 72-80.