Cross-validation of a short form of the CES-D in Chinese elderly

Objective. To establish the reliability and validity of a 10-item short for m of the CES-D (CESD-10). Design. Cross-sectional and longitudinal follow-up over 3 years. Standardiz ed questionnaire and face-to-face interview were conducted. Setting. Community and psychogeriatric assessment clinic of a voluntary org anization. Participants. Five hundred and fifty-four elderly in the general community, 30 elderly from a community centre and 31 elderly patients with depressive symptoms. Measures. Instruments other than the CESD-10 included Activities of Daily L iving (ADL), the Life Satisfaction Scale (LSS), the Lubben Social Network S cale, a single-item measure of self-rated health. Results. Reliability of the CESD-10 in terms of internal consistency was sa tisfactory (Cronbach alpha = 0.78-0.79). Moderate consistency over a period of 3 years was also found to be significant (r = 0.44, p < 0.01). The CESD -10 showed comparable accuracy to the original CES-D in classifying cases w ith depressive symptoms (kappa = 0.84, p < 0.01). Significant relationships of the CESD-10 with impairments of daily functioning, life satisfaction, s ocial support and self-rated health were established. The CESD-10 also diff erentiated significantly between groups of 'normal' and clinically depresse d elderly. Conclusion. The CESD-10 attained satisfactory content and temporal reliabil ity. Its construct and concurrent validity were established. With its brevi ty, it should prove a useful mental health measure for the elderly. Copyrig ht (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.