Objective To evaluate the application effect of a "Simplified Scale for Depression and Anxiety Screening" among professional females in six industries and analyze the reliability and validity of this self-developed questionnaire.
Methods A Simplified Scale for Depression and Anxiety Screening was developed based on the Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90), the Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), and the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS). Using this simplified scale, the psychologic status of professional females who worked in the finance, education, healthcare, communication, machinery manufacturing, and petroleum and mining industries in 30 cities in 10 provinces or autonomous regions nationwide was surveyed. The discrimination of each item on the scale and the Spearman correlation between the score of each item and the total score were evaluated. Cronbach's α coefficient, Guttman Split-Half coefficient and, Omega coefficient were used to evaluate homogeneity reliability, split-half reliability, and composite reliability. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were conducted to evaluate its validity.
Results A total of 89 611 valid questionnaires were collected. Exploratory factor analysis extracted two factors from the total scale, explaining a cumulative explanatory variance of 71.243%. Confirmatory factor analysis showed good fit indices for the 2-factor, 14-item model. The Spearman correlation coefficients between the 14 items and the total score ranged from 0.649 to 0.852. The Cronbach's α coefficient for the total questionnaire was 0.956, the Guttman Split-Half coefficient was 0.912, and the Omega coefficient was 0.957.
Conclusions This self-developed Simplified Scale for Depression and Anxiety Screening is convenient, reliable, and valid, suitable for screening depression and anxiety in female workers from various industries.
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