Background
It is thought that depressive disorders will be the second leading cause of disability
worldwide by 2020. Recently, there is a steady increase in the number of university
students diagnosed and treated as depression patients. It can be assumed that depression is
a serious mental health problem for university students because it affects all age groups of
the students either younger or older equally. The current study aims to establish the
reliability and validity of the Zagazig Depression scale in a UK sample.
Methods
The study was a cross-sectional online survey. A sample of 133 out of 275 undergraduate
students from a range of UK Universities in the academic year 2008-2009, aged 20.3 ± 6.3
years old were recruited. A modified back translated version of Zagazig Depression scale
was used. In order to validate the Zagazig Depression scale, participants were asked to
complete the Patient Health Questionnaire. Statistical analysis includes Kappa analysis,
Cronbach’s alpha, Spearman’s correlation analysis, and Confirmatory Factor analysis.
Results
Using the recommended cut-off of Zagazig Depression scale for possible minor
depression it was found that 30.3% of the students have depression and higher percentage
was identified according to the Patient Health Questionnaire (37.4%). Females were more
depressed. The mean ZDS score was 8.3 ± 4.2. Rates of depression increase as students
get older. The reliability of The ZDS was satisfactory (Cronbach's alpha was .894). For
validity, ZDS score was strongly associated with PHQ, with no significant difference (pvalue
> 0.05), with strong positive correlation (r = +.8, p-value < 0.01).
Conclusion
The strong, significant correlation between the PHQ and ZDS, along with high internal
consistency of the ZDS as a whole provides evidence that ZDS is a reliable measure of
depressive symptoms and is promising for the use of the translated ZDS in a large-scale
cross-culture study.