Validation of the Gujarati Version of Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale for Children (CES-DC) and Prevalence of Depressive Symptoms amongst School Going Adolescents in Gujarat, India
VC06-VC11
Correspondence
Dr. Anusha Prabhakaran,
C-2/6, Staff Quarters, Shree Krishna Hospital Campus, Karamsad, Anand, Gujarat, India.
E-mail: anusha.anika11@gmail.com
Introduction: Adolescents are at-risk for mental health issues especially depression. Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale for Children (CES-DC) is a validated scale to screen for depressive symptoms in population-based samples of children and adolescents. There is a need to validate available screening tools in local language to screen adolescents for depressive symptoms.
Aim: To validate CES-DC in Gujarati and to assess prevalence of depressive symptoms and its associated socio-demographic factors among school going adolescents.
Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among students studying in 8th to 12th standards (13 years to 17 years) from five Gujarati medium schools in Gujarat. CES-DC, Patient Health Questionnaire-9 and Rosenberg self-esteem scale were used for validation part of the study. Socio-demographic data was collected using a semi-structured questionnaire. Validity of the Gujarati version of CES-DC was assessed by checking for semantic, content equivalence, convergent and discriminant validity. The validated CES-DC scale, was used in a larger sample to assess prevalence of depressive symptoms. Descriptive analysis was done to assess prevalence of depressive symptoms among students and associations and were compared using chi-square test.
Results: Validation study was conducted among 300 participants. Gujarati translation of CES-DC scale was found to have acceptable semantic equivalence, content validity index, convergent, divergent validity and reliability. A total of 1000 students from urban and rural schools were surveyed, 53.2% students had a high CES-DC score. Prevalence of self-reported depressive symptoms increased with increase in class. Girls from 11th and 12th classes had more depressive symptoms.
Conclusion:The newly-translated scale can be used as self-reporting tool in detecting depressive symptoms of Gujarati children studying in 8th to 12th standard of school. Significant proportion of school going adolescents had depressive symptoms.