Confirmatory factor structure of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression scale (CES-D) in mild-to-moderate traumatic brain injury

Primary objective: The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale (CES-D) is a frequently-used self-report measure of depressive symptom severity. Brief depression screening measures can be important in the identification and prediction of depression following traumatic brain injury. The objective of this study was to investigate the validity of the CES-D in measuring depressive symptoms in patients with mild-to-moderate TBI as it has been rarely used in neurologically compromised populations.Research design: Inception cohort.Methods and procedures: The CES-D was administered to 340 participants with mild-to-moderate TBI at 3-months post-injury.Main outcomes and results: Confirmatory factor analysis of the CES-D indicated that the data are a reasonable fit similar to that of Radloff 's original 4-factor model.Conclusions: These findings suggest that the CES-D may be appropriate for use in patients with mild-to-moderate TBI.