Using the CES-D-7 as a Screening Instrument to Detect Major Depression among the Inmate Population

Abstract

Major depression is one of the most prevalent mental health problems in the penitentiary context and has been related to different undesirable outcomes. The aim of the current research was to evaluate the utility of screening tools for major depression brief assessment in the jail context. We interviewed 203 male inmates and complimented the MCMI-III, the SCL-90-R, and the CES-D-7 self-informed scales. Major depression syndrome and disorder were determined based on MCMI-III criteria and the capability of SCL-90-R and CES-D-7 to identify true positives and true negatives when tested. SCL-90-R and CES-D-7 showed good sensitivity for major depression syndrome and disorder. The specificity of SCL-90-R was poor in all cases, but CES-D-7 showed good specificity depending on the cut-off score. Rigorous interviews are needed for better evaluation of major depression in jails, but screening tools like CES-D-7 are useful for rapid assessment considering the work overload of penitentiary psychologists.

Examining the Empirical Links Between Digital Social Pressure, Personality, Psychological Distress, Social Support, Users’ Residential Living Conditions, and Smartphone Addiction

“…Depressive mood. We used a 7-item validated version of the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression (CESD; Herrero & Gracia, 2007;Juarros-Basterretxea et al, 2021). The CESD-7 scale is a short self-report scale designed to measure depressive symptomatology in the general population.…”

Racial Differences in Self-Report of Mental Illness and Mental Illness Treatment in the Community: An Analysis of Jail Intake Data

“…National jail healthcare accreditation organizations recommend mental health screenings for active suicidality (Berman & Canning, 2021 ; Folsom et al, 2006 ), or signs of schizophrenia (e.g., hallucinations) (Folsom et al, 2006 ), but there is less clarity in recommendations for screening for anxiety, depression, or trauma-related illnesses. When jails implement screening for mental illness, it is often part of a quality improvement, or implementation project, and even when successful, the experiences of jails are infrequently adopted by other jails (Gibbons et al, 2019 ; Juarros-Basterretxea et al, 2021 ; Proctor et al, 2021 ). The barriers in converting efficacious screening tools are likely multi-factorial, related to limited financial and administrative resources (Morris & Edwards, 2022 ), and de-prioritization of mental health due to competing health issues (Binswanger et al, 2009 ; Udo, 2019 ).…”

Peer Victimization, Peer Aggression and Depressive Symptoms over Time: A Longitudinal Study with Latent Growth Curves

“…This Likert-type scale consists of 7 items that measure aspects related to depression symptoms, with a response range from 1 (never) to 4 (always), (e.g., "In the last month, I felt as if I could not shake off the sadness, even with the help of my family or friends"). Previous studies have highlighted the adequate psychometric properties of the instrument across ages (Crockett et al, 2005;Herrero & Gracia, 2007;Juarros-Basterretxea et al, 2021). In this study we used an overall score for the scale to assess the general depressive symptoms experienced by students, adding the scores (reverse items were recoded), ranging from 7 to 28, and then dividing by the number of items ( 7) to obtain a final range from 1 to 4.…”