Measurement of depressive symptoms in women with breast cancer and women with clinical depression: A differential item functioning analysis

Niels G. Waller, Bruce E. Compas, Steven D. Hollon, Ellen Beckjord

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

16 Scopus citations

Abstract

Differential item functioning (DIF) analyses of the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) were conducted on samples of 267 women with breast cancer and 294 women with clinical depression. Patterns of items in which there was significant and nonsignificant DIF were identified using statistical tests and measures of DIF effect size. At the most general level, 15 of 21 BDI-II items were associated with nontrivial DIF suggesting that the item responses of these samples do not reflect the same underlying construct. Factor analyses of the BDI-II using a psychometrically defensible method for item level factor analysis supported the conclusions from the DIF analyses. These findings suggest that researchers and practitioners should apply caution when interpreting self-report depression symptoms in breast cancer patients.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)127-141
Number of pages15
JournalJournal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings
Volume12
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2005
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Breast cancer
  • Depression
  • Measurement

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