Internal consistency of Geriatric Depression Scale:

challenge for new proposals

Rodríguez-Suárez, N.*; Escudero, C.**; Castro, M.***, Medina, N.***,
Santacruz J. M.****; De La Espriella *****
* Master Psychology enphase Clinic and Cognitive Neuropsychology (nathalia.rodriguez.suarez@gmail.com); **
PhD. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
*** XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX ; **** XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Introduction: ***** XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

High incidence of elderly depression motivates use of screening Table 1: Cronbach’ Alpha results
Cronbach' Alpha
Table 1: Cronbach’ Alpha results
Factorial component
Cronbach'
depression scales. The most used scale by specialized and non- Alpha
based on typified Items analized (ítems taked off) Item 
1 2 3
elements
specialized healthcare staff is Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS, 0,828 0,837 15 (0) 1 0,313 *0,615 0,044

figure 2 shows the 15 items). Short version of GDS (15 items) 0,836 0,842 14 (9, lowest homogeneity index)
2
3
0,301
*0,694
0,069
0,166
0,500
0,172
was propose in 1982 whit a high effort in his construction and 0,829 0,834
10 (2, 6, 9, 10, 11; lower 4 *0,680 0,243 0,089
homogeneity index: 0,4) 5 0,323 *0,602 0,117
without modification until now. The aim of this study was to 0,814 0,815
8 (1, 2, 6, 9, 10, 11, 13, 15;
6 0,559 0,072 0,088
homogeneity index < 0,5)
determine the confiability of these 15 item-short version and 0,618 0,638 5 (ultrashort versión suggested)
7 0,422 *0,623 0,016
8 *0,739 0,184 0,142
ultrashort versions (5, 3, and 2 items). 0,577 0,581 2 (ultrashort versión suggested) 9 0,065 -0,092 *0,618
10 0,025 0,248 0,581
Design and Methods: Estadísticos de fiabilidad 11 0,012 *0,715 0,076
Alfa de Cronbach Alfa de Cronbach N de elementos
basada en los 12 0,464 0,274 0,336
elementos
This study used information from Encuesta de Salud, Bienestar ,764
tipificados
,765 4, component 1
13 0,103 0,508 0,431
14 *0,616 0,204 0,277
y Envejecimiento SABE (Healthy, Wealthy and Elderly ,683
NA ,688 4, component 2
NA 1 preg 15 0,287 0,108 0,551
questionnaire) in Bogotá/Colombia (1957 registers). Statistical * Items for each component

analysis were carried out. We used SPSS v21 program and Alfa Results:
Cronbach analysis.
• There is a high variability in Alpha Cronbach between suggested
Figure 1 shows sociodemographic characteristics of the versions. The highest Alpha Cronbach versions was with 10 items
(0,834).
selected group and GDS score:
Female (N=1235) Male (N=722) • The high variability seems to be due to different factors that may have
de geriatric depression scale (3 factors). Items that were omitted shows
a values over 0,50 in the third component.

Conclusions:

Findings suggest some dificulties in the GDS, those maybe related with
different factors that seems to evaluated different things????

References
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0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 0 50 100 150 200 250
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0-5 6 a 10 11 a 15 0-5 6 a 10 11 a 15
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Figure 1: Study subjects.

Figure 2: GDS items.

Procediment:

This retrospective study include two quantitative stages, due to

first analysis results.

1. Internal consistency with Alpha Cronbach for ultrashort

(ultrashort versions suggested: 5 -1, 4, 8, 9, 12- y 2 items -3
14-) and short version with 15 items (table 1).

2. Alpha Cronbach analysis with another short versions (table 1)

and Factorial analysis due Alpha Cronbach results table 2).

Results:

Table 1 shows Alpha Cronbach results for long and short versions.
We make Alpha Cronbach analysis with versions taking out items
with low correlation.