Normalization of Reynolds Child Depression Scale (RCDS) in Tehran Elementary School Students in 2014

Depression is a mood disorder that is hard to tolerate. The current study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties (reliability and validity) of Reynolds child depression scale (RCDS) in the students of elementary schools of Tehran.
In this cross-sectional study, questionnaires of RCDS and CDI (Child Depression Inventory) were executed on the 370 students from elementary schools of Tehran which were selected randomly by multi-stage sampling. In order to evaluate the internal reliability of RCDS questionnaire, the Cronbach`s alpha method was used. Also in order to evaluate the convergent validity of RCDS, the scores resulted from RCDS and CDI questionnaires were calculated using Pearson's correlation matrix. CDI questionnaire was used to evaluate the validity of RCDS.
The coefficient of Cronbach`s alpha was equal to 0.83 using Varimax rotation that highlighted the role of four factors including self-esteem and self-blame, anxiety and physical symptoms, lack of pleasure with low morale,and indifference and feeling of worthlessness. The correlation between RCDS and CDI was recognized as positive and significant (p˂0.001). Also, there was no significant difference (p˂0.001) in the prevalence of depression between boys and girls and as a result a norm percentage table for this test was prepared.
Suitable reliability and validity of RCDS for evaluating the depression in children was indicated in the study. Using RCDS for identifying depression in children may lead to identifying the patients and facilitating the disease treatment and will improve the children's health.