Arabic version geriatric depressive scale-15 for Iraqi elderly dwellers in Al-Najaf city: Validity and reliability

The Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15) is regarded as the most widely used screening tools and easy to administer. The Geriatric Depressive Scale-15 short version was translated to the Arabic language by a researcher and was assessed by psychiatric specialists, then retranslated to the English language by an English language specialist, and after acceptance of the last form, and elderly was selected (samples size was (n=279) elderly persons (138 male and 141 female) form hospitals and general community setting, each elderly was assessed by using GDS-15 and then assessed by using the ICD-10 criteria for major depressive episode to detect presence or absence of depression. The average age of study group were (71.84) years, diagnosis of major depression according to Arabic GDS-15 short version for Iraqi elderly (44.4% for positive and 55.6 for negative) and according to ICD-10 criteria for depression (38% for positive and 62% for negative). Also, the study found that Arabic GDS-15 for Iraqi elderly had high specificity and sensitivity and interrater reliability (k= 0.72). This type of Arabic version GDS-15 is valid and reliable in the assessment of depression among Iraqi elderly dwellers in Alnajaf city for different marital status, educational levels, residencies, and occupations.