Measurement of depressive symptoms in cancer patients: Evaluation of the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D)

The Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) is commonly used to measure depressive symptomatology in cancer patients, yet there is little known about the psychometric properties of the measure when applied to a cancer population. The aim of this study was to examine the psychomet ric properties of the CES-D with cancer patients. For purposes of compariso n, the psychometric properties of the CES-D were assessed both in women und ergoing treatment for breast cancer and women with no history of cancer. Th e CES-D and other study measures were administered to women undergoing trea tment for breast cancer on two occasions: prior to treatment and midway thr ough treatment. The measures were also administered to a group of women sim ilar in age to the cancer patients who had no history of any type of cancer . These healthy comparison subjects were also assessed on two separate occa sions. The CES-D was found to have good internal consistency, with alpha co efficients >0.85 for both groups, as well as adequate test-retest reliabili ty in both groups. Construct validity was demonstrated in two ways, via com parisons between the groups and by comparing the CES-D with measures of fat igue, anxiety, and global mental health functioning. The CES-D was establis hed as a valid and reliable measure of depressive symptomatology in this sa mple of breast cancer patients This measure may be appropriate for use in c linical psychosocial research with cancer patients, yet further research is needed to evaluate its usefulness in other cancer populations. The importa nce of measuring psychological symptoms with standard measures that have be en validated with cancer patients is highlighted. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Inc.