Examining psychometric properties of the kutcher adolescent depression scale (kads-11) using multidimensional item response theory

Kutcher Adolescent Depression Scale-11 Items (KADS-11) is a diagnostic instrument measuring depression and suicidal thoughts in adolescents and young adults. Some characteristics of KADS-11 such as ease of administration, treatment sensitivity, and the ability to distinguish comorbid symptoms motivated the researchers to examine the psychometric properties of the scale by utilizing the multidimensional form of Graded Response Modeling in order to find the relationship between item responses and the latent trait. Results indicated that most of the items provided the maximum amount of information about participants’ depression, and also two extracted factors (Core Depressive factor and Suicidal and Physical factor) can explain 55.20% of total variance of KADS-11.