Polish version of Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D): results of a preliminary study on the psychometric properties of the scale

Abstract

Background The Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) is one of the most popular diagnostic tools used to assess depression symptoms, both in epidemiological studies and other types of research projects. The aim of the presented study was the assessment of the psychometric qualities of the Polish version of the scale. Participants and procedure The study was conducted on a group of patients suffering from a somatic illness and at risk of developing depression (n = 826) and among healthy individuals from the general population (n = 1160). Results The results confirmed the factorial structure of the questionnaire. Convergent validity was confirmed by correlations with other measures of affect and resources consistent with the theory. Conclusions The results of our analyses confirmed that the Polish version of the questionnaire is satisfactory in terms of construct and criterion validity and provides a reliable psychometric tool.