Validation of the Occupational Depression Inventory in Brazil: A study of 1,612 civil servants

Authors

Renzo Bianchi, Norwegian University of Science and TechnologyFollow
Danísio Calixto Cavalcante, National Institute of Social Security, Fortaleza, Cear´a, BrazilFollow
Cristina Queirós, University of Porto, Porto, PortugalFollow
Blezi Daiana Menezes Santos, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
Jay Verkuilen, CUNY Graduate CenterFollow
Irvin Sam Schonfeld, CUNY Graduate CenterFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Spring 4-2023

Abstract

Objective: The Occupational Depression Inventory (ODI) assesses work-attributed depressive symptoms. The ODI has demonstrated robust psychometric and structural properties. To date, the instrument has been validated in English, French, and Spanish. This study examined the psychometric and structural properties of the ODI's Brazilian-Portuguese version.

Methods: The study involved 1612 civil servants employed in Brazil (MAGE = 44, SDAGE = 9; 60% female). The study was conducted online across all Brazilian states.

Results: Exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) bifactor analysis indicated that the ODI meets the requirements for essential unidimensionality. The general factor accounted for 91% of the common variance extracted. We found measurement invariance to hold across sexes and age groups. Consistent with these findings, the ODI showed strong scalability (H = 0.67). The instrument's total score accurately ranked respondents on the latent dimension underlying the measure. Furthermore, the ODI exhibited excellent total-score reliability (e.g., McDonald's ω = 0.93). Occupational depression correlated negatively with work engagement and each of its components (vigor, dedication, and absorption), speaking to the ODI's criterion validity. Finally, the ODI helped clarify the issue of burnout-depression overlap. Relying on ESEM confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), we found burnout's components to correlate more strongly with occupational depression than with each other. Using a higher-order ESEM-within-CFA framework, we found a correlation of 0.95 between burnout and occupational depression.

Conclusion: The ODI displays robust psychometric and structural properties within the Brazilian context. The ODI constitutes a valuable resource for occupational health specialists and may help advance research on job-related distress.

Comments

Bianchi, R., Cavalcante, D. C., Queirós, C., Santos B. D. M., Verkuilen, J., & Schonfeld, I. S. (2023). Validation of the Occupational Depression Inventory in Brazil: A study of 1,612 civil servants. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 167, 111194. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychores.2023.111194