Turkish adaptation of Kessler Psychological Distress Scale: validity and reliability study

Objective: Psychological distress is defined as emotional damage characterized by symptoms of depression and anxiety. Aim of study is to adapt Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10-PDS) to Turkish and to determine its validity and reliability and use it in psychological distress screenings. Methods: K10-PDS was translated into Turkish according to WHO World Mental Health Initiative Interview Translation Guidelines. A Sociodemographic Information Questionnaire, Beck Depression Inventory for Primary Care (BDI-PC) and Turkish K10-PDS were applied to 200 volunteers between 18-77 years old in Family Medicine and Psychiatry polyclinics of Antalya Training and Research Hospital. Turkish K10-PDS were given again to 55 participants for reliability study four days later. Results: Mean of participants' Turkish K10-PDS score was 21.8±10.7. Reliability (Cronbach's alpha) of the Turkish K10-PDS was 0.95. Based on ROC analysis, the area under the curve was found to be 0.958. Spearman-Brown two-quartile test reliability was 0.93, and test-retest correlation coefficient was 0.89. Item-total score correlations ranged between 0.720 and 0.887. At the cut-off point of >20, the sensitivity was 92.0% and specificity was 90.4%. Conclusion: It has been shown that Turkish K10-PDS can be used as a valid and reliable scale for the detection, screening and treatment of depression and anxiety disorders, especially for psychological distress.