Adaptation of the Beck Depression Inventory-II into Turkish Sign Language for Deaf Adults in Turkiye

Senel S., Aydogdu B. N., Dogan C.

JOURNAL OF DEAF STUDIES AND DEAF EDUCATION, 2026 (SSCI, Scopus)

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Publication Date: 2026
  • Doi Number: 10.1093/jdsade/enag023
  • Journal Name: JOURNAL OF DEAF STUDIES AND DEAF EDUCATION
  • Journal Indexes: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, Agricultural & Environmental Science Database, CINAHL, EBSCO Education Source, Education Abstracts, Educational research abstracts (ERA), EMBASE, ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), MEDLINE, MLA - Modern Language Association Database, Psycinfo, MLA International Bibliography, EBSCO Communication Source, Social Science Premium Collection (ProQuest), Biomedical Reference Collection: Corporate Edition (EBSCO), Communication Source (EBSCO), Education Collection (ProQuest), Education Source Ultimate (EBSCO), Health Research Premium Collection (ProQuest), Pharma Collection (ProQuest)
  • Middle East Technical University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

D/deaf individuals face higher rates of psychological issues like depression, anxiety, and trauma than the general population. However, tools to assess depressive symptoms in this group are limited. This study aimed to adapt the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) to Turkish D/deaf culture using Turkish Sign Language (T & Idot;D). Five bilingual experts translated the scale, followed by a pre-trial with two D/deaf individuals and a pilot study with 40 D/deaf adults. Internal consistency was high: Cronbach's alpha was .884 for the T & Idot;D version and .879 for the Turkish version. Item 10 showed low item-total correlation and was slightly revised. A strong correlation between T & Idot;D and Turkish versions (r = .946, p < .01) confirmed language equivalence. Participant feedback helped refine clarity and usability. Findings indicate that this work represents a preliminary adaptation study, demonstrating initial reliability and linguistic equivalence of the BDI-II for Turkish D/deaf adults. These results should be interpreted as early evidence, and further research is needed to establish construct validity and broader psychometric properties.