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Psychometric evaluation of the PHQ-9 in university students: Factorial validity and measurement equivalence across three African countries

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Abstract

With the rising rates of depression and suicidality among university students, accurate measures of depression have become an essential public health matter. The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) is one of the measures often used to estimate and compare group depression prevalence rates. In this study we examined the factor structure, measurement invariance (country and gender), and reliability of the PHQ-9 in a sample of university students (N = 1064; Mage = 22.67 yrs., SD = 5.17; 61% = Female) from three African countries (South Africa, Kenya, Ghana). Four alternative factor structures of the PHQ-9 (i.e., one-factor and three correlated two-factor models) were tested with confirmatory factor analysis. Results supported the two-factor model (somatic and non-somatic factors), and the measure was invariant across gender and the three African countries. The findings suggest that the PHQ-9 may be suitable for estimating and comparing depression prevalence across groups of African university students.

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The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Limpopo, M-Block 1018, University Road, Polokwane, 0727, South Africa

    Malose Makhubela

  2. Department of Psychology, University of the Free State, 205 Nelson Mandela Drive, Park West, Bloemfontein, South Africa

    Itumeleng P. Khumalo

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  1. Malose Makhubela
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  2. Itumeleng P. Khumalo
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MM conceptualised the paper, analysed the data and contributed to the writing of the manuscript. IK conceptualised the paper and contributed to the writing of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Malose Makhubela.

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All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000 (5). Informed consent was obtained from all participants for being included in the study.

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Makhubela, M., Khumalo, I.P. Psychometric evaluation of the PHQ-9 in university students: Factorial validity and measurement equivalence across three African countries. Curr Psychol 42, 18061–18069 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-02997-0

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