Psychometric Properties and Factor Structure of the Turkish Version of the Short Form of Behavioural Activation for Depression Scale (BADS-SF) in Non-Clinical Adults

Abstract

Depressive individuals are reluctant to participate in pleasurable activities, which refers to their activation level. Therefore, determining the activation levels contributes to the effective execution of a possible intervention in depression. Accordingly, Manos and colleagues (2011) developed the Behavioural Activation for Depression Scale-Short Form to measure the activation levels of individuals. This study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of the Turkish translation of the Behavioural Activation for Depression Scale-Short Form. We recruited a non-clinical sample group of 540 participants (F/M = 368/172) aged between 18 and 44 (M=22.57, SD=3.670) using the convenience sampling method. We performed exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses by forming two different sub-samples. As a result of these analyses, we found that the two-factor, eight-item structure consisting of activation and avoidance subscales showed a good fit. In addition, we found that the internal consistency coefficients for the entire scale and activation subscale were moderate and good, while they were weak for the avoidance subscale but were at an acceptable level. We examined the relationship between depression and life satisfaction for criterion validity. We observed that the Behavioural Activation for Depression Scale-Short Form has a negative correlation with depression and a positive correlation with life satisfaction and showed that the criterion validity is ensured based on the results obtained. Accordingly, we showed that the Turkish version of the Behavioural Activation for Depression Scale-Short Form has sufficient qualifications to measure the activation level in adults.