INSTRUMENT TRANSLATION AND PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES OF A HAITIAN-CREOLE LANGUAGE VERSION OF THE CENTER FOR EPIDEMIOLOGY DEPRESSION SCALE

Jonas Auditorium

Objective. The primary aim of this study is to determine the psychometric properties of the newly translated Center for Epidemiological Depression Scale – Haitian Creole Version (CES-D-Creole). Background. It is estimated that approximately 12 830,000 Haitians are currently living in the United States. Unfortunately, depression is a common mental health condition in the general population. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates approximately 9.1% of the United States population to meet the current definition of depression, including 4.1% who meet the criteria for Major Depression Disorder. Prompt recognition and treatment of depression symptoms is known to improve healthcare outcomes and prevent adverse health outcomes, such as suicide. However, there are no validated questionnaires to screen for depression in the Haitian-Creole language. Methods. Participants taking part of the study are adult bilingual (English and Haitian Creole) community members. Participants are asked to complete a demographics questionnaire, a 2-item validated PHQ-2 depression inventory, and the new CES-D-Creole. Results. The CES-D-Creole was found to be highly reliability (20 items; Chronbach’s Alpha = 0.95; n= 27). Conclusion. Further data collection is needed to quantify internal reliability and external validity associated with this newly translated questionnaire. Grants. None