Validation of the Korean Version of the Depression Coping Self-Efficacy Scale (DCSES-K)

Coping self-efficacy is regarded as an important indicator of the quality of life and well-being for community-dwelling patients with depression. The Depression Coping Self-Efficacy Scale (DCSES) was designed to measure self-efficacy beliefs related to the ability to perform tasks specific to coping with the symptoms of depression. The purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of a Korean version of the Depression Coping Self-Efficacy Scale (DCSES-K) for community-dwelling patients with depression. A cross-sectional survey design was used. Content and semantic equivalence of the instrument using translation and back-translation of the DCSES was established. A convenience sample of 149 community-dwelling patients with depression was recruited from psychiatric outpatient clinics. The reliability alpha for the DCSES-K was .93, and the internal consistency was found to be acceptable. For convergent validity, DCSES-K score was positively correlated with the General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES-K) score. For construct validity, significant differences in DCSES-K scores were found between a lower BDI group (mean = 73.7, SD = 16.54) and a higher BDI group (mean = 53.74, SD = 16.99) (t = 7.19, p < .001). For the DCSES-K, 5 factors were extracted, accounting for 62.7% of the variance. Results of this study suggest that DCSES-K can be used as a reliable and valid measure for examining self-efficacy coping with depression for Korean community-dwelling patients with depression.