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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Quantitative Psychology and Measurement
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1562016
IRT Analysis of the BDI-II for Early Online Depression Detection: Validation in a Mexican Population
Provisionally accepted
Pablo Tonathui Salcedo-Callado1
Norberto Hernández-Llanes2
Ricardo Sánchez-Domínguez1Rodrigo Marín-Navarrete2
Ricardo Arturo Saracco-Alvarez3*- 1Departamento de Investigación Psicosocial y Documental, Centros de Integración Juvenil, A.C., Mexico City, Mexico
- 2Dirección de Investigación y Enseñanza., Centros de Integración Juvenil, A.C., Mexico City, Mexico
- 3National Institute of Psychiatry Ramon de la Fuente Muñiz (INPRFM), Mexico City, Mexico
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Identifying factors associated with depression is crucial to addressing the global rise in mental health needs. The Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II) has shown robustness in assessing depression, even in digital contexts. However, psychometric evidence is essential to support its use in online selfdiagnosis, particularly in regions where it has not been widely employed for this purpose. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the BDI-II for online self-diagnosis among Mexican adults. Method: Data from 58,456 medical records were analysed using Item Response Theory (IRT). Results: A good fit was found for a hierarchical confirmatory model with one second-order factor (overall severity) and two first-order factors (cognitive and somatic symptoms), as well as optimal accuracy estimates in both the IRT and the Classical Test Theory (CTT). Discussion: These findings support the use of the BDI-II as a reliable online screening tool for depression in self-diagnosis settings for Mexican adults.
Keywords: Validation study, Affective Disorders, self-assessments, Health Services, eHealth
Received: 16 Jan 2025; Accepted: 14 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Salcedo-Callado, Hernández-Llanes, Sánchez-Domínguez, Marín-Navarrete and Saracco-Alvarez. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Ricardo Arturo Saracco-Alvarez, National Institute of Psychiatry Ramon de la Fuente Muñiz (INPRFM), Mexico City, Mexico
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.