ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Beck Depression Inventory is frequently used for assessing depression across different cultures. Despite widely application of Beck Depression Inventory, there is surprisingly lack of empirical research on psychometric validation of this scale in Pakistan. In this regard the current study has determined the reliability and validity of Beck Depression Inventory in Pakistan. METHODS: Urdu version Beck Depression Inventory was administration to 250 Inpatient and Outpatient Department visitors in Ayub Teaching Hospital, Abbottabad, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Initially reliability was determined and later on validly analysis was done. RESULTS: The reliability results show that Cronbach alphas ranged from 0.75 to 0.92, whereas inter-item correlations ranged from 0.53 to 0.78. The validity analysis show that factor loadings for all items of Beck Depression Inventory ranged from 0.77 to 0.93. Furthermore, the two subscales presented good model fit indices, thus conforming its construct validity. CONCLUSION: The results of current study show that Beck Depression Inventory has good psychometric properties followed by its administration to general population in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan; therefore this scale could be effectively used for assessing depression in Pakistan
Subject(s)
Depression/diagnosis , Population Surveillance/methods , Psychometrics/methods , Depression/epidemiology , Depression/psychology , Humans , Morbidity/trends , Pakistan/epidemiology , Psychiatric Status Rating Scales , Reproducibility of Results , Severity of Illness IndexABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Communication barriers affect student-student interaction and student-patient interaction. This study is aimed at exploring the social, cultural and academic spheres where medical students feel getting isolated. METHOD: Questionnaire based cross-sectional survey was undertaken at Ayub Medical College, Abbottabad in the month of July, 2013. Cluster sampling technique was employed. RESULTS: Linguistic problems in the college greatly affected medical students. Female medical student are comparatively more affected. These problems were less common in 1st year and most common in 3rd year where clinical classes are started. There are distinct gender based problems in communicating among male and female student with as many as 37.2% reported feeling difficulty in communicating with students of opposite gender. However this difficulty in communication gradually faded on proceeding from 1st year towards final year. About frank interaction with opposite gender, 65.9% students felt that society had negative impact upon it. While communicating with patients of opposite gender, almost a quarter of students (27.3%) reported facing difficulties, 56.9% students reported to have abject apathy towards the colleagues of opposite gender. CONCLUSION: Linguistic issues, gender discrimination, negative impact of society and lack of concern for fellow colleagues is affecting student-student interaction and student-patient interaction. There is need to create student friendly environment.
