Have you looked at this one?

Peer reviewed 📷Direct link ERIC Number: EJ989185 Record Type: Journal Publication Date: 2012-Jun Pages: 5 Abstractor: ERIC Reference Count: 4 ISBN: N/A ISSN: ISSN-0734-2829

Test Review: Kovacs, M. "Children's Depression Inventory 2 (CDI 2)" (2nd ed.). North Tonawanda, NY: Multi-Health Systems Inc, 2011

Bae, Yunhee Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, v30 n3 p304-308 Jun 2012

This article presents a review of the Children's Depression Inventory 2 (CDI 2), published by Multi-Health Systems (MHS) to assess depressive symptoms in 7- to 17-year-old children and adolescents. Given the importance of early diagnosis and treatment (Kovacs & Devlin, 1998), the CDI 2 can assist professionals to pinpoint critical depressive symptoms a child may experience. Parent and teacher forms facilitate inclusive assessment of children's affective disorders and dysfunctions through multiple viewpoints. The review finds that the sophisticated features of the CDI 2 such as specific scales for Emotional and Functional Problems, additional subscales, and age and sex norms firmly support the theoretical model of depressive symptoms in youth. Also, the scales on Functional Problems regarding peers, school, and family show relevance to the targeted population. In terms of relative weaknesses, the CDI 2 has mainly written-text formats, so measurement alternatives for special youth with cognitive or physical disabilities are necessary. As the standardization samples were selected only within the United States, the norms may not represent the populations in other countries with different social and cultural backgrounds which impact on affective issues. Therefore, with more translations and norms, the CDI 2 could be used much more effectively with youth from diverse backgrounds. The review concludes that even though CDI 2 measurements reflect the degree or intensity of ongoing depressive manifestations, the results should be integrated with careful diagnostic judgment as part of a larger information-gathering process. Considering the properties of the CDI 2, repeated measurements to assess changes in depressive symptoms over time are recommended, but use with children under involuntary conditions is not recommended. (Contains 1 note.) Descriptors: Disability Identification, Depression (Psychology), Mental Disorders, Norms, Child Health, Mental Health, Symptoms (Individual Disorders), Children, Adolescents, Evaluation Methods, Test Validity, Peer Influence, Family Influence, Social Influences, Cultural Differences, Severity (of Disability), Scoring, Test Reliability SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: http://sagepub.com

Thank you!

Hi Theresa, just be careful that "validation", as defined by APA (1999), is the degree to which proper scientific evidence supports the use of a certain tool (CDI-2, in your case) to measure a certain thing (depression) under certain conditions. This means, for example, that you won't obviously use CDI-2 to assess depression in adults (unless a study validates this measure for this purpose and these conditions), and it also means that if the tool is validated - let's say - in English language and for US, it might not work the same way (i.e. it might not be an appropriate measurement tool) in Australia, even though the language is the same...