Development of a Short Form Depression Screening Questionnaire for Korean Soldiers

BACKGROUND: The frequencies of South Korean soldiers' depression and resulting suicide are increasing every year. Thus, this study aimed to develop and confirm the reliability and validity of a simple short form depression screening scale for soldiers. METHODS: This study was conducted as part of a 2013 research project named ‘The Epidemiological Study on the Prevalence of Depression in Military Service and a Search for High Risk Group Management.’ Clinical depression was diagnosed using the Korean version of the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview and suicide risk was assessed through the Korean version of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview. Furthermore, the Center for Epidemiological Studies for Depression Scale (CES-D), the Stress Response Inventory, and the Barret Impulsiveness Scale were employed. Of the 20 CES-D items, three of the most correlated items with clinical diagnosis were derived to form the short form scale. Analyses for internal consistency, concurrent validity, and factor analysis were implemented for its validation. We performed a receiver operating curve (ROC) analysis using a clinical diagnosis of depression as a gold standard to calculate the area under the curve (AUC) value, cut-off score, and corresponding sensitivity and specificity to that cut-off score. RESULTS: According to the results of the correlation analysis, 7, 18, and 4 were selected to be on our scale. The three-item scale was reliable with a Cronbach's alpha value of 0.720, and a factor was derived from the factor analysis. The ROC analysis showed a high discriminant validity, with an AUC value of 0.891. The sensitivity and specificity were 84.8% and 78.2%, and 71.7% and 91.6%, respectively, for each when the selected cut-off scores were 2 and 3, respectively. Depression screened through the scale when the cut-off score was 2 or 3 was significantly associated with suicidality, stress, and social support. CONCLUSION: The depression screening questionnaire for Korean soldiers developed through this study demonstrated high reliability and validity. Since it comprises only three items, it can be utilized easily and frequently. It is expected to be employed in a large-scale suicide prevention project targeting military soldiers in the future; it will be beneficial in selecting high-risk groups for depression.