The Construct Validity Of The CES-D Among HIV-infected Perinatal Thai Women: Explanatory And Confirmatory Factor Analysis

Abstract

It is important to measure depressive symptoms in HIV-infected individuals because depressive symptoms have been found to be correlated with faster progression to AIDS. Worldwide, the CES-D has been used to assess depressive symptoms and examined for its construct validity. However, no previous studies have investigated the CES-D's construct validity among HIV-infected perinatal women. Therefore, the objective of this study was to examine the construct validity of the CES-D using both explanatory and confirmatory factor analysis among HIV-positive perinatal women in Thailand. Results showed that, overall, the CES-D is a 4-factor instrument with good construct validity and can be used to evaluate depressive symptoms among HIV-positive perinatal Thai women. However, some items from our study loaded differently on the 4 factors from Radloff's model. Finally, the CES-D can be used as a general-factor scale without being compromised.