The study was designed to evaluate the appropriateness of the Ko Depression Inventory (KDI) as a screening tool for detecting depression among climacteric women in Taiwan. By using cluster sampling, 360 participants were collected from three district officials. We excluded 161 participants who were illiterate as well as those with surgically induced menopause due to hysterectomy and/or bilateral ovariectomy. The final sample was 199 women, aged 40 to 60 years, recruited from the community. We used the Ko Depression Inventory and the Chinese version of the Modified Schedule of Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia-Lifetime for assessment and data collection. Moreover, each woman underwent a face-to-face semi-structured diagnostic interview to obtain her lifetime psychiatric history. Through item-analyses, the KDI was revised into a 14-item version with an internal consistency of 0.84 and split-half reliability of 0.79. Using a cutoff point of 10, the revised KDI showed the sensitivity of 84.6% and specificity of 84.9% in prospectively detecting major depression disorder and dysthymic disorder among climacteric women in Taiwan. The Short-Form version of KDI with favorable reliability and validity proved a good screening tool for depression among climacteric women in Taiwan. The appropriateness of various cut-off scores of the KDI was also evaluated in this study.
Relation:
中華心理學刊 / Chinese Journal of Psychology; 51(4),P471-481
