Psychometric properties of the 21-item Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21) among Malaysians during COVID-19: a methodological study

Author:

Thiyagarajan ArulmaniORCID,James Tyler G.ORCID,Marzo Roy Rillera

Abstract

AbstractDepression, anxiety, and stress continue to be among the largest burdens of disease, globally. The Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21 Items (DASS-21) is a shortened version of DASS-41 developed to measure these mental health conditions. The DASS-41 has strong evidence of validity and reliability in multiple contexts. However, the DASS-21, and the resulting item properties, has been explored less in terms of modern test theories. One such theory is Item Response Theory (IRT), and we use IRT models to explore latent item and person traits of each DASS-21 sub-scale among people living in Malaysia. Specifically, we aimed to assess Classical Test Theory and IRT properties including dimensionality, internal consistency (reliability), and item-level properties. We conducted a web-based cross-sectional study and sent link-based questionnaires to people aged 18 and above in a private university and requested to roll out the link. Overall and individual sub-scales’ Cronbach’s alpha of the DASS-21 indicates an excellent internal consistency. The average inter-item correlation and corrected inter-item correlations for each of the sub-scales indicated acceptable discrimination. On average, DASS-21 total scores and sub-scale scores were significantly higher among female participants than males. The Graded Response Model had better empirical fit to sub-scale response data. Raw summated and latent (IRT estimated) scores of the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress sub-scales, and overall DASS-21 were strongly correlated. Thus, this study provides evidence of validity supporting the use of the DASS-21 as a mental health screening tool among Malaysians. Specifically, standard error of measurement was minimized to provide robust evidence of potential utility in identifying participants who are and are not experiencing these mental health issues. Additional research is warranted to ensure that test content culturally appropriate and accurately measuring cultural norms of depression, anxiety, and stress.

Publisher

Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Subject

General Economics, Econometrics and Finance,General Psychology,General Social Sciences,General Arts and Humanities,General Business, Management and Accounting

Reference44 articles.

1. AERA (2014) American Educational Research Association, American Psychological Association, & National Council on Measurement in Education (eds.) Standards for educational and psychological testing. American Educational Research Association

2. Ali AM, Green J (2019) Factor structure of the depression anxiety stress Scale-21 (DASS-21): unidimensionality of the Arabic version among Egyptian drug users. Subst Abuse Treat Prev Policy 14(1):40

3. Beaufort IN, De Weert-Van Oene GH, Buwalda VAJ, de Leeuw JRJ, Goudriaan AE (2017) The Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) as a screener for depression in substance use disorder inpatients: a pilot study. Eur Addict Res 23(5):260–268

4. Chalmers P (2021) Multidimensional item response theory [R package mirt version 1.34]. Comprehensive R Archive Network (CRAN)

5. DeMars C (2010) Item response theory: Understanding Statistics Measurement. Oxford University Press, Oxford

同舟云学术

1.学者识别学者识别

2.学术分析学术分析

3.人才评估人才评估

"同舟云学术"是以全球学者为主线,采集、加工和组织学术论文而形成的新型学术文献查询和分析系统,可以对全球学者进行文献检索和人才价值评估。用户可以通过关注某些学科领域的顶尖人物而持续追踪该领域的学科进展和研究前沿。经过近期的数据扩容,当前同舟云学术共收录了国内外主流学术期刊6万余种,收集的期刊论文及会议论文总量共计约1.5亿篇,并以每天添加12000余篇中外论文的速度递增。我们也可以为用户提供个性化、定制化的学者数据。欢迎来电咨询!咨询电话:010-8811{复制后删除}0370

www.globalauthorid.com

TOP

Copyright © 2019-2024 北京同舟云网络信息技术有限公司
京公网安备11010802033243号  京ICP备18003416号-3