A Reliability and Validity of the Korean Version of Behavioral Activation for Depression Scale-Short Form: A Community Sample of Adults

Background: The behavioral activation method is a short-term, evidence-based approach that promotes functional activation by reinforcing adaptive behaviors and eliminating avoidance behaviors. This study aims to validate the Korean version of the Behavior Activation for Depression Scale-Short Form (K-BADS-SF) among Korean community adults, providing an objective measure of behavioral activation.Methods: A total of 471 participants, ranging in age from 18 to 69 years, completed an online survey. They filled out the K-BADS-SF and its long-form version, the K-BADS, as well as the Behavioral Inhibition System/Behavioral Activation System (BIS/BAS) scales, the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7). The K-BADS-SF was subject to a thorough psychometric evaluation, which included analyzing internal consistency, test-retest reliability, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, and both convergent and discriminant validity analyses.Results: Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses show that the model fit of the K-BADS-SF improves when certain items from the original scale are moved from the activation factor to the avoidance factor.Conclusions: The K-BADS-SF exhibits sufficient reliability and validity in the Korean community sample, confirming its effectiveness as a valuable tool for assessing behavioral activation.