The Chinese version of the cardiac depression scale: Mokken scaling

Data from 438 Chinese participants who completed the Chinese translation of the Cardiac Depression Scale were analysed using the Mokken scaling procedure and the 'R' statistical programme using the diagnostics available in these programmes. Correlations between Mandarin Chinese items and Chinese translations of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and the Beck Depression Inventory were also analysed. Fifteen items from the Mandarin Chinese Cardiac Depression Scale were retained in a weak but reliable Mokken scale; invariant item ordering was evident but of low accuracy and the Mokken scaled items of the Chinese Cardiac Depression Scale correlated with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and the Beck Depression Inventory.Items from the Mandarin Chinese Cardiac Depression Scale form a Mokken scale and this offers further insight into how the items of the Cardiac Depression Scale relate to the measurement of depression in people with a myocardial infarction.It is well recognised that myocardial infarction (MI) remains a major cause of death and morbidity in the West and has profound consequences on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and this is strongly related to the depression experienced by people who have had an MI. A scale specific to the measurement of depression in MI, the Cardiac Depression Scale (CDS), has been developed [1] to overcome the lack of specificity and responsiveness to change over time of existing measures of depression so that this can be measured more accurately in people with MI. MI is also, increasingly, a major cause of death and morbidity in China and the CDS has been translated and validated in Chinese Mandarin to form the Ch-CDS [2] and this has been validated against exiting measures of depression, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). However, the CDS and the Ch-CDS have 25 items and there is merit in searching for shorter forms of the scale - for ease of use and administ