Construct validity and internal consistency reliability of the Malay version of the 21-item depression anxiety stress scale (Malay-DASS-21) among male outpatient clinic attendees in Johor
- Author:
Rusli Bin Nordin
;
M Amrina Kaur
;
Trived Soni
;
Loh Kean Por
;
Shashi Miranda
- Publication Type:Original article
- Keywords:
DASS-21;
Malay-DASS-21;
construct validity;
internal consistency reliability;
depression;
anxiety;
stress;
male;
outpatient clinic attendees
- MeSH:
Anxiety;
Depression
- From:
The Medical Journal of Malaysia
2017;72(5):264-270
- CountryMalaysia
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
Background: The 21-item English version of the Depression
Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21) has been proposed as a
method for assessing self-perceived depression, anxiety
and stress over the past week in various clinical and nonclinical
populations. Several Malay versions of the DASS-21
have been validated in various populations with varying
success. One particular Malay version has been validated in
various occupational groups (such as nurses and
automotive workers) but not among male clinic outpatient
attendees in Malaysia.
Objective: To validate the Malay version of the DASS-21
(Malay-DASS-21) among male outpatient clinic attendees in
Johor.
Methods: A validation study with a random sample of 402
male respondents attending the outpatient clinic of a major
public outpatient clinic in Johor Bahru and Segamat was
carried out from January to March 2016. Construct validity of
the Malay-DASS-21 was examined using Exploratory Factor
Analysis (KMO = 0.947; Bartlett’s test of sphericity is
significant, p<0.001) through Principal Component Analysis
and orthogonal (varimax) rotation with Kaiser Normalization
to confirm the psychometric properties of the Malay-DASS21
and the internal consistency reliability using Cronbach’s
alpha.
Results: Construct validity of the Malay-DASS-21 based on
eigenvalues and factor loadings to confirm the three factor
structure (depression, anxiety, and stress) was acceptable.
The internal consistency reliability of the factor construct
was very impressive with Cronbach’s alpha values in the
range of 0.837 to 0.863.
Conclusions: The present study showed that the MalayDASS-21
has acceptable psychometric construct and high
internal consistency reliability to measure self-perceived
depression, anxiety and stress over the past week in male
outpatient clinic attendees in Johor. Further studies are
necessary to revalidate the Malay-DASS-21 across different
populations and cultures, and using confirmatory factor
analyses.
