%0 Journal Article %J Rehabilitation Psychology %D 2009 %T Development of an item bank for the assessment of depression in persons with mental illnesses and physical diseases using Rasch analysis %A Forkmann, T. %A Boecker, M. %A Norra, C. %A Eberle, N. %A Kircher, T. %A Schauerte, P. %A Mischke, K. %A Westhofen, M. %A Gauggel, S. %A Wirtz, M. %K Adaptation, Psychological %K Adult %K Aged %K Depressive Disorder/*diagnosis/psychology %K Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted %K Female %K Heart Diseases/*psychology %K Humans %K Male %K Mental Disorders/*psychology %K Middle Aged %K Models, Statistical %K Otorhinolaryngologic Diseases/*psychology %K Personality Assessment/statistics & numerical data %K Personality Inventory/*statistics & numerical data %K Psychometrics/statistics & numerical data %K Questionnaires %K Reproducibility of Results %K Sick Role %X OBJECTIVE: The calibration of item banks provides the basis for computerized adaptive testing that ensures high diagnostic precision and minimizes participants' test burden. The present study aimed at developing a new item bank that allows for assessing depression in persons with mental and persons with somatic diseases. METHOD: The sample consisted of 161 participants treated for a depressive syndrome, and 206 participants with somatic illnesses (103 cardiologic, 103 otorhinolaryngologic; overall mean age = 44.1 years, SD =14.0; 44.7% women) to allow for validation of the item bank in both groups. Persons answered a pool of 182 depression items on a 5-point Likert scale. RESULTS: Evaluation of Rasch model fit (infit < 1.3), differential item functioning, dimensionality, local independence, item spread, item and person separation (>2.0), and reliability (>.80) resulted in a bank of 79 items with good psychometric properties. CONCLUSIONS: The bank provides items with a wide range of content coverage and may serve as a sound basis for computerized adaptive testing applications. It might also be useful for researchers who wish to develop new fixed-length scales for the assessment of depression in specific rehabilitation settings. %B Rehabilitation Psychology %7 2009/05/28 %V 54 %P 186-97 %8 May %@ 0090-5550 (Print)0090-5550 (Linking) %G eng %M 19469609