A psychometric evaluation of the BDI-II in treatment-seeking substance abusers

The Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) was administered to 416 consecuti ve male admissions to a 28-day residential chemical dependence treatment pr ogram as part of a routine intake procedure. Psychometric analyses revealed that the BDI-II scores were internally consistent in this treatment-seekin g population based on coefficient alpha. The mean BDI-II score for patients in this study was higher than that noted for other clinical samples in pre vious studies. The use of the BDI-II for clinical decision making with chem ically dependent individuals is discussed in light of this elevated distrib ution of scores. Confirmatory factor-analytic examinations of the instrumen t revealed that a three-factor model, with cognitive, affective, and somati c symptoms loading as separate factors, provided the most adequate account of the data. In total, the study supported the use of the BDI-II for the as sessment of depression in chemically dependent male patients entering a res idential treatment program at a VAMC facility, provided population-specific normative data is utilized for making clinical decisions. (C) 2001 Elsevie r Science Inc. All rights reserved.