Initial adaptation of the University Student Depression Inventory for Spanish population

The symptomatology of depression affects between 13.5% and 67% of university students in Spain, making it difficult for them to pursue their academic goals. The University Student Depression Inventory (USDI) (Khawaja & Bryden, 2006) was originally developed in Australia to measure depressive symptomatology among English speaking university students. The objective of the present investigation was to validate the Spanish version of the USDI. Method: Though it has been translated into other languages, it has not been adapted or validated in the Spanish population. Study design: First, the adaptation from English to Spanish was completed. A cross-sectional, survey-based design was used. Data were collected using an electronic survey distributed to students at a large university in southern Spain. A sample of 285 students completed the inventory. Results: Psychometric analysis revealed sound internal consistency. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the original three correlated factor model had an acceptable fit to the data. Finally, no relationship was found between the USDI and sociodemographic variables such as age, gender, course level, and employment status. Conclusions: The Spanish version of the USDI met psychometric criteria and emerged as a valid measure for the Spanish university population.