Short versions of the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) among widowed older people in Taiwan: Comparing their psychometric properties

Abstract

To compare the psychometric properties of different short versions of the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) among community-dwelling widowed older people. Methods: A cross-sectional design was conducted between February 2018 and August 2019 in southern Taiwan (n = 330). The GDS short versions included Hoyl et al's 5-item version, Molloy et al's 5-item version and van Marwijk et al's 4-item version. Results: All GDS short versions had satisfactory internal consistency (α = 0.83-0.90), with strong item loading embedded in the same construct of depression (0.43-0.72). The activity of daily living (ADL) scores had strong associations with van Marwijk et al's 4-item version (absolute standardised coefficient [|β|] = 0.15-0.59), Hoyl et al's 5-item version (|β| = 0.16-0.45) and Molloy et al's 4-item version (|β| = 0.09-0.40). Conclusions: Hoyl et al's 5-item version was found to be more suitable than the other two versions of the GDS to assess the precise construct of depression. Meanwhile, van Marwijk et al's 4-item version can be used when the focus is on ADL performance. However, the conclusion should be interpreted with caution since the results were derived only from a widowed population in Taiwan. More research on this topic among other populations is thus needed to corroborate our conclusion.

Investigating the effectiveness of online interactive courses on loneliness and quality of life of older adults in the community during the COVID‐19 pandemic: A pilot study and a randomized controlled trial

“…The ISSB, which was initially developed by Barrera, 18 was subsequently translated into Chinese and compiled into eight questions by Ou 19 . The scale comprises two categories, namely emotional and tangible support, which have good psychometric properties 20 . The total score for the two categories represents the participant's satisfaction with social support.…”

“…19 The scale comprises two categories, namely emotional and tangible support, which have good psychometric properties. 20 The total score for the two categories represents the participant's satisfaction with social support. The scale was scored on a 5-point Likert scale.…”

Development and psychometric evaluation of the Physical Resilience Instrument for Older Adults (PRIFOR)

“…The GDS-5 assesses the depression level of older adults. The scores of the five items are totaled, and a higher score indicates a higher level of depression [ 15 , 16 ]. The GDS-5 has good psychometric properties, including a negative likelihood ratio of 0.07, a positive likelihood ratio of 4.92, a negative predictive value of 0.94, a positive predictive value of 0.81, a sensitivity of 0.94, and a specificity of 0.81 [ 17 ].…”

Psychometric properties of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale: A response to de Medeiros et al. “Psychometric properties of the Brazilian version of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S)”

“…Third, the major benefit of using a brief instrument is to save time in a busy setting (Li et al, 2021), especially when the participants have a condition that burdens them when completing the instrument (e.g., participants being very old). However, we believe that our seven-item FCV-19S with easy-to-understand item descriptions do not take too much time when any individual uses it.…”