Psychiatry Research EG

BACKGROUND: Identifying depressive cognitions in adolescent nursing students can be an important step to prevent the development of clinical depression, which is positively associated with suicide. PURPOSE: This study focused on the psychometric testing of the Arabic version of the Depressive Cognition Scale (A-DCS) among 170 first-year adolescent Egyptian nursing students. METHODS: The questionnaire was assessed for internal consistency, homogeneity, and construct validity using factor analysis and convergent validity. RESULTS: Cronbach`s alpha for (A-DCS) was .86. The homogeneity of the instrument was supported by item-to-total correlations between .30 and .70. Factor extraction generated only one factor with eigenvalues greater than 1, which is consistent with the English version. The (A-DCS) total score had a strong significant correlation with the Alienation Scale scores (r = .51, p < .01), indicating convergent validity. CONCLUSION: This scale has the potential to become a useful screening tool for depressive cognitions among Egyptian nursing students.