COVID-19 Depression Scale

Abstract

The COVID-19 Depression Scale (COVID-19DS), developed by Dadfar, Lester, and Turan (2023), is an original 16-item screening instrument designed specifically to quantify depressive symptomatology resulting from the COVID-19 Pandemic. The initial conceptualization of the scale originated in Farsi (Persian). Validation data were collected from a sample of university students in Turkey. Factor analysis confirmed a robust two-factor structure, distinguishing between general depressive features categorized as “Affective, Cognitive, and Somatic/Vegetative” and symptoms explicitly tied to the pandemic experience, labeled “COVID-19 Depression.” The COVID-19DS possesses reported strong psychometric properties, including high reliability and validity. This instrument is recommended for clinical and research use to assess pandemic-specific distress and to facilitate comparisons between post-COVID depression and other forms of Major Depressive Disorder. Furthermore, it is an effective screening tool for identifying individuals who might benefit from immediate psycho-educational interventions.

Keywords

Affective, Cognitive, and Somatic/Vegetative, COVID-19 Pandemic, COVID-19-related Depression, Depression Screening, Mental Health Assessment, Psychometrics, Factor Analysis, Major Depression.

Authors

Dadfar, Mahboubeh; Lester, David; Turan, Yahya

Purpose

The primary objective of the COVID-19DS is to serve as a specialized assessment tool for measuring depressive symptoms that are directly caused by or exacerbated by the unique circumstances of the coronavirus pandemic. By focusing on pandemic-specific triggers—such as quarantine, news consumption, and social distancing—the scale provides a nuanced measure of distress distinct from generalized depressive disorders.

Beyond clinical assessment, the instrument is highly recommended as a rapid screening tool. It assists clinicians and researchers in identifying individuals who exhibit exceptionally high scores, indicating a significant need for targeted psycho-educational support or further psychiatric evaluation. The scale also enables critical comparative research between symptoms of post-COVID depression and the diagnostic criteria for Major Depressive Disorder.

Construct

The COVID-19 Depression Scale measures the construct of Pandemic-Specific Depressive Symptomatology. This construct is operationalized through 16 items distributed across two primary factors identified through psychometric analysis.

The first factor, “Affective, Cognitive, and Somatic/Vegetative,” captures classical core symptoms of depression, including loss of pleasure, fatigue, and feelings of worthlessness. The second factor, “COVID-19 Depression,” specifically addresses distress related to pandemic events, such as sadness from social distancing, anxiety over news coverage, or grief concerning affected friends and relatives. This dual-factor structure allows for a clear differentiation between pre-existing or general depressive tendencies and those acutely induced by the public health crisis.

Validity

The COVID-19DS demonstrates sound psychometric validity. Initial evidence was established through convergent analysis showing a significant negative correlation between overall COVID-19DS scores and scores on perceived health-related components (r = −.414). This result confirms that higher levels of pandemic-related depression are associated with poorer self-reported health perception.

Further supporting the structural validity, the individual factors showed similar correlational patterns: Factor 1 (Affective, Cognitive, and Somatic/Vegetative) was negatively correlated with perceived health (r = −.376), and Factor 2 (COVID-19 Depression) also showed a negative correlation (r = −.369). Additionally, consistent findings that women reported higher levels of COVID-19 depression while simultaneously reporting lower perceived health status lend further support to the scale’s ability to capture relevant psychological distress during the pandemic.

Reliability

The internal consistency of the COVID-19DS is strong, indicating that the items within the scale are highly homogeneous and reliably measure the underlying construct. This strength is evidenced by a high Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of .92, which exceeds standard acceptable thresholds for psychological instruments.

Factor Analysis

Both Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) were utilized to establish the scale’s dimensional structure. The EFA extracted two salient factors which collectively accounted for 57.22% of the total variance, confirming the theoretical separation of general versus pandemic-specific depressive symptoms.

The CFA tested a two-factor model using the maximum likelihood estimation method, yielding an excellent fit to the collected data. Key fit indices included: Chi-square = 244.146, CMIN/DF = 2.181, GFI = .916, NFI = .908, RFI = .889, IFI = .943, TLI = .932, CFI = .943, SRMR = .04, and RMSEA = .068. These strong indices confirm that the two-factor structure of the COVID-19DS is a statistically sound representation of the underlying data.

Instrument

Test Type: Original Screener

Format: Items are rated using a 5-point Likert scale.

Language Available: English, Persian (Farsi)

Population Group: Human; Male; Female

Age Group: No data is Available

Population Details: Location: Turkey; Respondents: University Students

Test Methodology: Test Validity; Test Reliability; Internal Consistency; Factor Analysis; Confirmatory Factor Analysis; Exploratory Factor Analysis

Keywords

Affective, Cognitive, and Somatic/Vegetative, COVID-19 Pandemic, COVID-19-related Depression, Depression Screening, Mental Health and Illness Assessment, COVID-19, Major Depressive Disorder.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier:

• Dadfar, Mahboubeh: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0620-2570
• Lester, David: No data is Available
• Turan, Yahya: No data is Available

Affiliation:

• Dadfar, Mahboubeh: Iran University of Medical Sciences School of Behavioral Sciences and Mental Health (Tehran Institute of Psychiatry)
• Lester, David: Stockton University Psychology Program
• Turan, Yahya: Bandırma Onyedi Eylül University, Faculty of Islamic Sciences Department of Philosophy and Religious Sciences, Psychology of Religion

Affiliation Email addresses:

• Dadfar, Mahboubeh: [email protected]

Correspondence Address:

• Dadfar, Mahboubeh: [email protected]

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The COVID-19 Depression Scale (COVID-19DS) is a non-commercial instrument, and there is no fee associated with its use. However, individuals or institutions wishing to utilize the scale must contact the publisher to obtain formal permissions.

Test Year: 2023

Reference’s

Dadfar, M., Lester, D., & Turan, Y. (2023). The development and validation of the COVID-19 Depression Scale (COVID-19DS): Association with the Perceived Health-Related Components Scale. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 26(6), 550–567. https://doi.org/10.1080/13674676.2021.1978958

Items of the COVID-19 Depression Scale

The COVID-19 Depression Scale is a 16-item measure. The specific items are available in the source reference: Dadfar, M., Lester, D., & Turan, Y. (2023). The development and validation of the COVID-19 Depression Scale (COVID-19DS): Association with the Perceived Health-Related Components Scale. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 26(6), 550–567, specifically found in Table 3 on Page 557.

Factors and Subscales

The scale comprises two main factors:

• Affective, Cognitive, and Somatic/Vegetative
• COVID-19 Depression

COVID-19 Depression Scale (COVID-19DS) Items

The COVID-19 makes me:

1. Have a depressed mood.
2. Lose pleasure in activities I once enjoyed.
3. My appetite changed (appetite increase or decrease).
4. Lose energy.
5. Have increased fatigue.
6. Feel worthless.
7. Feel guilty.
8. Have difficulty making decisions.
9. Have thoughts of death.
10. Feel emptiness.
11. Get depressed when thinking about COVID-19.
12. Become sad when thinking about friend or relatives who may have COVID-19.
13. Feel sad about being in quarantine with COVID-19.
14. Feel depressed when watching COVID-19 news.
15. Feel sad about social/physical distancing.
16. Feel sad over the changes in the holding of religious ceremonies and activities due to the COVID-19.

Note. Participants indicate their level of agreement with the statements using a five-point Likert scale ranging from Not at all (0) to Nearly every day over the last 2 weeks (4). The total score ranges from 0 to 64, with a higher score indicating more depression from COVID-19. Factor 1 (items 1, 2, 4, 5) labelled: Affective, Cognitive, and Somatic/Vegetative. Factor 2 (items 3, 6, 7) labelled: COVID-19 Depression.