Abstract
BackgroundThere has been scant research published regarding the assessment of depression in ethnic groups, and few studies have addressed the validation of scales for standardized assessment of depressive symptoms among indigenous minorities.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to analyze the psychometric properties of the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15) for a multi-ethnic sample of older Chilean adults.MethodsCross-sectional study with a sample of 800 older people, 71% of whom were self-declared indigenous (Aymara/Mapuche).ResultsThe non-indigenous group had a higher total GDS-15 score and lower quality of life and wellbeing scores than the indigenous groups (p < 0.001). The GDS-15 had a KR-20 coefficient of 0.90 for the non-indigenous group, 0.80 for Aymara, and 0.85 for Mapuche. The homogeneity index was 0.38 for non-indigenous, 0.24 for Aymara, and 0.29 for Mapuche.DiscussionThe GDS-15 showed satisfactory psychometric characteristics for the samples studied. However, the better results observed for the non-indigenous group suggest that some characteristics and content of the rating scale are not fully appropriate for the indigenous older population.ConclusionsThere is a need to develop the transcultural validation of scales such as GDS-15, which are applied in a standardized manner in geriatric evaluations as part of primary healthcare.
Highlights
Chile is one of the most aged countries in Latin America, with 19.3% of its population aged over 60 years (Ministry of Social Development, 2017)
There is a need to develop the transcultural validation of scales such as Geriatric Depression Scale-15 items (GDS-15), which are applied in a standardized manner in geriatric evaluations as part of primary healthcare
This is confirmed by a study conducted with older indigenous (Aymara) and non-indigenous adults; using the standard Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS)-15 cutoff for possible cases of depression (≥ 5), 40.1% of the Aymara sub-sample identified with depressive symptomatology and the figure is higher in the case of Aymara woman, amounting to 47.8% (GallardoPeralta, Sánchez-Moreno, Barrón, & Arias, 2015)
Summary
Chile is one of the most aged countries in Latin America, with 19.3% of its population aged over 60 years (Ministry of Social Development, 2017). Certain groups have a higher propensity to suffer from depression, in the case of indigenous ethnic minorities (McIntyre et al, 2017; Petribu, Lima, Brotto, Leao, & Arruda, 2017; Roh, Burnette, Lee, Lee, & Easton, 2016; Walker, Campbell, Dawson, & Egede, 2019). In the case of older Chilean adults, depression is more common among the indigenous population. This is confirmed by a study conducted with older indigenous (Aymara) and non-indigenous adults; using the standard GDS-15 cutoff for possible cases of depression (≥ 5), 40.1% of the Aymara sub-sample identified with depressive symptomatology (as opposed to 34.1% of the nonindigenous population) and the figure is higher in the case of Aymara woman, amounting to 47.8% (GallardoPeralta, Sánchez-Moreno, Barrón, & Arias, 2015). There has been scant research published regarding the assessment of depression in ethnic groups, and few studies have addressed the validation of scales for standardized assessment of depressive symptoms among indigenous minorities
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