THE RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY OF TURKISH FORM OF THE BURNS DEPRESSION SCALE

Abstract

The aim of this study is to adapt Burns Depression Scale which is widely used in the world to Turkish. The scale consists of 25 items and 4 sub-dimensions for the purpose of examining depressive symptoms. First of all the scale was translated from English into Turkish. Prior to the scale application, the final version was conducted by pre-application to the group of 40 students. The final version of the scale was applied to 241(159 female, 82 male) candidates teachers studying at Fırat University Faculty of Education. The data obtained were subjected to Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA). EFA results showed that the scale had six factors explaining 64.2% of the total variance. In addition, the results of the EFA revealed that the scale retained the original item count. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient was calculated as .92 to determine the reliability of the scale. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was performed after the EFA. The findings of the CFA showed that the six-factor structure of the scale was confirmed. According to the findings of the study, it can be said that the Burns Depression Scale, which is adapted to Turkish, is a valid and reliable scale in determining the symptoms and levels of depression