Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales 42 (DASS-42) in Dari-Language: Validity and Reliability Study in Adults, Herat, Afghanistan

Abstract

Objective:This study aimed to assess the validity and reliability of Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales-42 (DASS-42) in Dari, in adult population of Herat province of Afghanistan.Methods:The Dari-translated version of DASS-42 questionnaire was administered to 1310 non-clinical samples randomly selected in Herat. Internal reliability, exploratory factor analyses, confirmatory factor analyses and Pearson's product moment correlation were assessed to test the validity and reliability of the questionnaire. Data analyses were performed in IBM SPSS Statistics 23.0 and AMOS 23.0.Results:Internal consistency of the Dari-translated version of DASS-42 questionnaire subscales was high with Cronbach's alpha values of 0.888, 0.866 and 0.833 for depression, anxiety and stress, respectively. Construct validity was further supported with acceptable correlation measures of 0.799, 0.822 and 0.818 for depression, anxiety and stress subscales, respectively, which all were statistically significant (p<0.05). Confirmatory factor analysis gave acceptable goodness-of-fit indices.Conclusion:The Dari-translated version of DASS-42 questionnaire is a reliable and valid assessment tool for identification and measurement of the magnitude of depression, anxiety and stress in the Dari-speaking population of Herat province of Afghanistan.

Keywords

• depression
• anxiety
• stress
• dass-42
• herat
• afghanistan