Medición de la comorbilidad depresiva en drogodependientes: Validez y eficacia diagnóstica del Inventario de Depresión de Beck (BDI-II) en dominicanos con múltiple consumo de sustancias

Depressive comorbidity measurement in drug dependents: Validity and diagnostic efficiency of Beck's Depression Inventory (BDI-II) in Dominicans with multiple substance consumption. The present study proposed two main objectives, a) evaluate the validity of BDI-II for the identification of comorbid depressive symptoms in people with multiple substance abuse (i.e. Known-Groups Validity); and b) verify the diagnostic efficacy of the inventory for the distinction between general population and clinical drug dependents. From a two-stage sampling, a total of 116 Dominicans was selected, of whom 50% were drug-dependent. Analysis of differences between groups and analysis of COR curves were applied. The results show statistically significant and large effect size differences in depression levels in favor of the substance abuse group. In addition, COR curve analyses indicate that depression scores derived from BDI-II have adequate diagnostic performance indices. In short, evidence is provided in favor of the appropriateness and validity of the BDI-II to be applied in a population of drug dependents.