Development of child depressive symtoms scale

Although there are numerous means of measuring to detect developmental difficulties in children's clinics, measures of behavior, symptoms, pathology are very limited. Existing measurement tools are generally adaptation. As the tests adapted from different cultures have difficulties in terms of language and cultural codes, it is worth every country to have its own culturally appropriate measurement tool. The detection of the child's behavior and symptom through a valid and reliable measurement may be an useful instrument in the treatment. In this context, the purpose of this study is to develop a measurement tool adapted in accordance with the psychoanalytic theory. During the development phase of the scale, along with the content validity, construct validity and criterion validity, normal and psychiatric group comparison, internal consistency, item analysis and test retest reliability studies were performed. The item pool has been created through theoritical basis, relevant research, scales and expert opinion. Under the criteria of content validity, items that score below .80 in expert opinions were removed from the scale; and to test the construct validity, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis were performed. To test whether the sample size is sufficient for factor analysis, KMO and Bartlett tests have been examined. In order to test the validity and reliability of the scale; Pearson Correlation Analysis was performed to determine interrelationships between factors, Cronbach's Alpha and Split-Half Test Correlation to test the reliability of the subscales of scale, Independent t Test to determine the distinctiveness of sub-dimension and total scores, the correlation analysis with Conners' Parent Rating Scale Short Form (CPRS-48) to test construct validity, Pearson Correlation Analysis to test-retest reliability, and Mann Whitney U to make the psychiatric group comparisons. As a result of all these analyzes, it has been determined that the scale meets the conditions of high reliability and validity. During the implementation phase, the demographic information form prepared by the researcher, the scale planned to be developed and the Conners' Parent Rating Scale-Short Form (CPRS-48) to evaluate construct validity were given to the families. The implementation was done through interviews with 1626 children who are 37-80 month-old in 60 kindergartens throughout Istanbul. As a result of the research, it is verified that the scale has an 8-dimensional structure according to the explanatory and confirmatory factor analyzes. These factors are named as Maladjustment to the Objective Reality, Agression, Social Adaptation, Loss- Separation Anxiety, Early (Archaic) Anxieties, Impulsivity and Hyperactivity, Deterioration in Cognitive Processes (Attention and Learning Ability) and Somatization.