Application of the short version of depression-anxiety-stress scale to stress assessment on students after earthquake

Objective To test the reliability and validity of the short version of depression-anxiety-stress scale (DASS-21) for students in the disaster region. Methods DASS-21 and the Chinese version of UCLA PTSD Reaction Index for DSM-IV, Revision I were used to evaluate psychological health among 876 students from grades 5 to 9 after Ya'an earthquake. Results (1) Each of the items had a good distinction degree, with CR value ranging from 9.268 to 22.438(P<0.01), and the correlation coefficients ranged from 0.306 to 0.742.(2)The Cronbach's alpha coefficients ranged from 0.781 to 0.911.(3) The correlation coefficients between total score and each dimension ranged from 0.714 to 0.914, and the correlation coefficient between PTSD and total DASS score, depression anxiety and stress score was 0.626-0.774.(4)Through the item analysis and explore factor analysis, the revised scale contained 21 items and 3 subscales which could explain 47.813% of the total variance(KMO=0.937, χ2=3126.85, df=210, P<0.01), and the results of confirmatory factor analysis supported the three-factor model (χ2/df=4.180, P<0.01, PCFI=0.728, CFI=0.904, IFI=0.905, TLI=0.881, and RMSEA=0.060), and the load of each item was between 0.339 to 0.715. Conclusion The short version of DASS-21 is reliable and valid, and can be used as a tool for post-disaster stress assessment on local students. Key words: Short version of depression-anxiety-stress scale; Reliability; Validity; Teenagers; Stress assessment