Assessing Depression Severity With the BDI: Proven Effectiveness and Widespread Use - Research Paper

Introduction

The Beck Depression Inventory is one of the extensively used valuations of depression that uses a self-report technique to measure the severity of people of age thirteen and above. The method has proven to effectively measure depression (Bringmann, Lemmens, Huibers, Borsboom, & Tuerlinckx, 2015). Its effectiveness is evidenced by its widespread use in both counseling and clinical settings, and also its use in studies of antidepressant and psychotherapy treatment. The test manual of the Beck Depression Inventory presents straightforward interpretive guidelines that are administered individually for a period of 5 to 10 minutes (Brown, Kaplan, & Jason, 2012).

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The purpose of Beck`s Depression Inventory is to evaluate the severity of the existing depression symptoms as it indexes the signs of a person suffering from severe depression that requires hospitalization (Dolle, Schulte-Korne, O'Leary, von Hofacker, Izat, & Allgaier, 2012). In the assessment process, some of the items included are the concentration difficulties, items to agitation, and energy loss items, which plus other things make a total of twenty-one items. Each item shows a specific symptom of depression, which is put together to a come up with a single score measured using four-point scales that ranges from 0 to 3 (Bringmann et al., 2015).

Depression is common in individuals who suffer from chronic illness. Accurate identification of the depression and appropriate treatment is very significant as it assists in maintaining function in patients with depression. There are several tools from screening which are sensitive for depression detection, especially in medical outpatients. There have been various debates about the validity of the available tools used in detecting depression due to biased questions. In this research paper, the relevance and significance of Beck`s Depression Inventory are evaluated by exploring various studies that have demonstrated how the instrument is relevant and the importance it has brought to depression detection.

The Relevance of Beck`s Depression Inventory

Beck`s Depression Inventory test has been tested for concurrent, content, and construct validity. The concurrent ratings between BDI and other instruments used to measure depression are given high scores illustrating their validities. Beck`s Depression Inventory has shown construct validity of top-level with the medical symptoms the instrument measures. According to Subica et al., 2014, the evidence showing the reliability of Beck`s Depression Inventory was provided by Beck`s study where he measured the coefficient alpha of two different populations to compare the results with the coefficient alphas that was set in 1961(Subica et al., 2014).

The results were very close, and they even exceeded the original 1961 coefficient alphas. The results from the two groups were, the outpatients' group coefficient alpha was 0.92, and the second group, which was students, showed a coefficient alpha of 0.93. The two coefficient alphas were significant according to the expectation of the test. The DBI test correlated positively with Hamilton Depression, which has a rating scale of r=0.71 (Subica et al., 2014).

The relevance of the test is among the main aims of Deck`s Depression Inventory in conformance to a criterion which is a close diagnosis for depression. The validity of the technique is enhanced in both multilingual studies, which are assessment measurement and cross-cultural research, which are transnational instruments.

The cross-cultural research uses the instruments of different cultures in a single study, and the procedure of this research reaches translation that enables psychological perspective equivalence. The relevance of multilingual studies applies the utilization of instruments established for cultural setting and a single language, making Beck`s Depression Inventory more relevant (Sacco et al., 2016). The device is designed to show the depth of the depression, and it can provide a measure that is objective and monitors changes over time to know the effectiveness and improvements of the treatment methods. Due to its high relevance, the technique has been translated into languages such as Arabic, Chinese, Persian, Japanese, Xhosa, and multiple European Languages.

Furthermore, the tested internal consistency of the Beck`s Depression Inventory ranges from 0.73 to 0.92, and it has a mean of 0.86 (Brown et al., 2012). Also, similar consistencies have been found for the instrument like the 13-item short form. For psychiatric populations, the Beck`s Depression Inventory exhibits high internal consistency, which has an alpha of 0.86, and for the non-psychiatric sample, the alpha is 0.81(Brown et al., 2012).

Beck`s Depression Inventory test has proven to be the world`s most significant discoveries at all times among psychiatrists. It has led to many studies and researches, including that of Wang & Gorenstein, 2013, where the survey showed supporting evidence of intensification of characteristics that are gender-related in the adolescence early stages. The test has solved several cases studies proving it to be more efficient.

Significance of Beck`s Depression Inventory

The importance of the instrument is rooted in its great revolution on measurement and detection of availability and intensity of depression in individuals. Its development marked a great invention and a shift among professionals dealing with mental health, who, before the event of BDI, were viewing the problem of depression from a perspective of psychodynamic (Brown et al., 2012). Beck`s Depression Inventory assisted the professionals in changing their views and instead viewed depression as a problem that is rooted in the personal thoughts of a patient. The instrument has helped in neutralizing and challenging the negative cognitions of patients by applying cognitive restructuring techniques in cognitive behavioral therapy.

The significance of Beck`s Depression Inventory is also seen in its development of a principle that uses a questionnaire that is self-report which gives theoretical constructs through using factor analysis techniques, which has assisted the field of psychology and psychiatry which at first a psychometric tool was being developed based on a theory that was probably invalid.

Beck`s Depression inventory has assisted in handling instances, where people who are depressed are almost charged with offenses regarded as legal. The test confirms individuals who are brought by police if they are under mental distress or healthy thinking during the actions they perform (Dolle et al., 2012). A Psychiatric can attend to a patient and apply the BDI test by asking the patient to open up and explain what they remember.

The procedure used in the Beck`s Depression Inventory test makes it possible for a person being tested to open up and share the shortcoming they undergo and at the end of the test a clear conclusion can be arrived showing clearly what the patient is suffering, and the intensity of the depression as they are classified to be severe, medium, and low according to the total score shown ion the BDI test (Wang, & Gorenstein, 2013). The instrument brings to light hidden sufferings being undergone by depressed individuals; this is clear evidence that Beck`s Depression Inventory is relevant to in personal assessment as the patient will be put under medical care and later monitored by social workers and psychiatrists till full recovery.

Beck`s Depression Inventory has played a massive role in restoring the lost conscious of depressed persons, and it has offered them a life worth living again (Bringmann et al., 2015). The care they obtain after the test has revealed what they go through assists the psychiatrists and social workers to suggest the best care and optimism for restoration. The hopelessness, physical symptoms, irritability, and cognitions, including the feeling of guilt or punishment, are exposed by Beck`s Depression Inventory making it possible to handle a patient in the right way and using the proper medical procedures that are directed towards the intensity band the cause of the depression.

Abuses of Beck`s Depression Inventory

Violation of this test is mainly in the cross-cultural assessment, mostly in the taxonomy of equivalence and bias. Because most of the researches done in cross-cultural utilizes applications of diverse linguistic groups, and occurrence of bias is when the score on the indicator are different which might have been caused by the type of questions asked to the individual being assessed especially when the questions don not genuinely correspond to the intellectual ability and the level of education of the person being evaluated (Wang, & Gorenstein, 2013). More so, the test can be abused; there are biases in the constructed measurement that are not identical across all cultures.

Also, an abuse might occur in a situation where the test using the Beck`s Depression Inventory is only done on people perceived to have behaviors of a good daughter or son. It is classified as bias as the children`s obligations towards their parents differ in different countries or places, and the variances are mostly caused by the difference in income and education levels. Also, administration biases where the communication between the interviewee and interviewer is improper can lead to abuse of the Beck`s Depression Inventory Test. The interviewee may have different languages or insufficient knowledge concerning the literature of testing (Dolle et al., 2012). Cultural norms and inappropriate dressing codes violated by the interviewer may cause poor data collection, which abuses the targets or goals of the intended test.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Beck Depression Inventory is a testing tool, evaluates the severity and continuation of depression symptoms. Its relevance has been demonstrated by the results from various studies, which are measured by its internal consistency with alphas ranging from 0.72 to 0.92. If any research conducted on the validity of the instrument shows alphas within the stated range, then the Beck`s Depression Inventory is considered valid. The device is significant as it has revolutionized how depression is viewed from the part of the patient's thoughts. The patients who are assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory get the advantage of being subjected to proper care of both social workers and psychiatrists.

Beck`s Depression Inventory is a relevant instrument in psychometric; it shows high reliability and capacity to differentiate depressed individuals with those who are not depressed. It has improved content, structural, and concurrent validity. The available evidence from psychometric involving the instrument clearly illustrates that Beck`s Depression Inventory can be considered to be a questionnaire that is cost-effective used in measuring the intensity of depression, and it applies clinical practice and research worldwide.

References

Bringmann, L. F., Lemmens, L. H. J. M., Huibers, M. J. H., Borsboom, D., & Tuerlinckx, F. (2015). Revealing the dynamic network structure of the Beck Depression Inventory-II. Psychological medicine, 45(4), 747-757. DOI.org/10.1017/S0033291714001809

Brown, M., Kaplan, C., & Jason, L. (2012). Factor analysis of the Beck Depression Inventory-II with patients with chronic fatigue syndrome. Journal of health psychology, 17(6), 799-808. DOI.org/10.1177/1359105311424470

Dolle, K., Schulte-Korne, G., O'Leary, A. M., von Hofacker, N., Izat, Y., & Allgaier, A. K. (2012). The Beck Depression Inventory-II in adolescent mental health patients: Cut-off scores for detecting depression and rating severity. Psychiatry Research, 200(2-3), 843-848. DOI.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2012.05.011

Sacco, R., Santangelo, G., Stamenova, S., Bisecco, A...