Reliability of the BDI-II With Deaf Persons

ABSTRACT. Objective: To assess the reliability of the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) with deaf college students. Design: Zero-order and partial correlations were used to determine split-half and test-retest reliabilities. Participants: Sixty-three deaf college students participated; 53 returned approximately 1 week later for retest. Main Outcome Measures: BDI-II and a brief demographic questionnaire. Results: Statistical analyses demonstrated an internal consistency of .88, a full-sample split-half reliability of .76, and a test-retest correlation of .74. Results held true even when ethnicity, gender, and age were taken into account. However, this sample was older than the usual college population age, and female participants showed more depression on both test and retest than men. Conclusion: The findings support the continued use of the BDI-II in research with deaf individuals.