Network and Exploratory Factorial Analysis of the Depression Clinical Evaluation Test
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Guillot Valdés, María; Guillén Riquelme, Alejandro; Sierra Freire, Juan Carlos; Buela Casal, GualbertoEditorial
MDPI
Materia
Depression Assessment Factor analysis Network analysis Psychometrics
Date
2022-08-30Referencia bibliográfica
Guillot-Valdés, M... [et al.]. Network and Exploratory Factorial Analysis of the Depression Clinical Evaluation Test. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 10788. [https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191710788]
Sponsorship
Spanish Government FPU17/05262Abstract
Depression is a highly prevalent disorder with a wide range of symptomatology. Existing
instruments for its assessment have only a few items for each factor. The Depression Clinical
Evaluation Test (DCET) has been created to cover all depression symptoms at different times (month,
year, and always) with several items for each facet. The content validity of this instrument has
been judged by experts and, in this paper, we analyse its factorial structure and make a network
analysis of it. The test (196 items) was administered to 602 adults without psychological disorders
(Mage = 24.7, SD = 8.38, 72% women) both online and on paper. A network was estimated for each
time point, using the absolute minimum selection and shrinkage operator. From the factor analysis,
12 factors were established for month, 11 for year, and 10 for always, leaving 94 items. The network
analysis showed that the facets of depressive mood, anhedonia, and thoughts of Death, are central to
all the estimated networks. The DCET is proposed as a valid and reliable multifactorial instrument to
detect the variability of depressive symptoms in adults, guaranteeing its diagnostic usefulness.