Objective: This study aimed at studying validity and reliability of the Turkish form of the Baron Depression Screener for Athletes (BDSA), which is the only depression screening tool designed specifically for use with athletes.
Method: In total, 100 athletes, 76males and 24 females, participated in the study. Calculation of Cronbach’s alpha and item-total correlation coefficiency have been performed to assess the reliability of the Turkish form of BDSA. Explanatory factor analysis and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) have been used to assess validity of the scale.
Results: Item-total score correlations for ten items BDSA vary between 0.12 and 0.53; the median value was 0.31. For overall BDSA, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was found to be α=0.65. Factor analysis was conducted to determine the factor structure of the 10 items of BDSA using direct oblimin principal component analysis with varimax rotation. The factor solution yielded 3 factors with Eigenvalues >1, which explained 50.57% of the variance..
Conclusion: Results showed that the Turkish form of the Baron Depression Screener for Athletes is a valid and reliable instrument to assess depression among athletes speaking the Turkish language.