Validation of the 10-item Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D-10) in Zulu, Xhosa and Afrikaans populations in South Africa

Abstract Background The 10-item Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D-10) is a depression screening tool that has been used in the South African National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS), a national household panel study. This screening tool has not yet been validated in South Africa. This study aimed to establish the reliability and validity of the CES-D-10 in Zulu, Xhosa and Afrikaans. The CES-D-10’s psychometric properties were also compared to the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), a depression screening tool already validated in South Africa. Methods Stratified random samples of Xhosa, Afrikaans and Zulu-speaking participants aged 15 years or older (N = 944) were recruited from Cape Town Metro and Ethekwini districts. Face-to-face interviews included socio-demographic questions, the CES-D-10, Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), and WHO Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 (WHODAS). Major depression was determined using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview. All instruments were translated and back-translated to English. Construct validity was examined using exploratory factor analysis with varimax rotation. Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) curves were used to investigate the CES-D-10 and PHQ-9’s criterion validity, and compared using the DeLong method. Results Overall, 6.6, 18.0 and 6.9% of the Zulu, Afrikaans and Xhosa samples were diagnosed with depression, respectively. The CES-D-10 had acceptable internal consistency across samples (α = 0.69–0.89), and adequate concurrent validity, when compared to the PHQ-9 and WHODAS. The CES-D-10 area under the Receiver Operator Characteristic curve was good to excellent: 0.81 (95% CI 0.71–0.90) for Zulu, 0.93 (95% CI 0.90–0.96) for Afrikaans, and 0.94 (95% CI 0.89–0.99) for Xhosa. A cut-off of 12, 11 and 13 for Zulu, Afrikaans and Xhosa, respectively, generated the most balanced sensitivity, specificity and positive predictive value (Zulu: 71.4, 72.6% and 16.1%; Afrikaans: 84.6%, 84.0%, 53.7%; Xhosa: 81.0%, 95.0%, 54.8%). These were slightly higher than those generated for the PHQ-9. The CES-D-10 and PHQ-9 otherwise performed similarly across samples. Conclusions The CES-D-10 is a valid, reliable screening tool for depression in Zulu, Xhosa and coloured Afrikaans populations

Analyzing Exploratory Talk as a Socio-Cognitive Practice: Identity, Group Argumentation, and Class Debate Quality

This paper addresses the appraisal of the quality of student debate about a socio-scientific issue, with a focus on the interactional factor. The “scientific café” pedagogical situation offers an opportunity for observing the circulation of arguments from small group to class-level debate, indicating the quality of group reasoning. We use Mercer and Wegerif’s typology of student talk (exploratory, cumulative, disputational) and study the attitude toward self-identity needed to engage in exploratory talk. Such a positioning is conceptualized as being associated to specific politeness rules and face-preservation system. Three case studies held in an American and a French high schools explore the boundaries between those 3 categories and questions which units of analysis are relevant for assessing students’ argumentation. The paper provides methodological tools to apply this typology to authentic students’ interactions, where students’ engagement in a specific group talk type is both a matter of cognitive skills and perceived relevancy in a given social context. We propose a refinement of the analytical categories that allows studying students’ argumentation at different time scales (interactional phase, sequence, subsequence) and social levels (group talk, individual self-identity footing, and repercussions on class debate)

Group Emotions in Collective Reasoning: a Model

International audienceEducation and cognition research today generally recognize the tri-dimensional nature of reasoning processes as involving cognitive, social and emotional phenomena. However, there is so far no theoretical framework articulating these three dimensions from a descriptive perspective. This paper aims at presenting a first model of how group emotions work in collective reasoning, and specifies their social and cognitive functions. This model is inspired both from a multidisciplinary literature review and our extensive previous empirical work on an international corpus of videotaped student debates. The cognitive function of emotions is defined in reference to the process of schematization (Grize 1996, 1997) and associated emotional framing (Polo et al. 2013). On the other hand, the social function of emotions refers to recognition-oriented behaviors that correspond to engagement into specific types of group talk (e.g. Mercer 1996), implying specific politeness rules or face-preservation systems (Brown and Levinson 1988). We believe that our multi-dimensional and multi-level approach to group reasoning, which mostly employs a linguistic perspective, can be applied to a diversity of contexts. We hope it will serve as a basis for further discussion on the role of emotions in reasoning among the interdisciplinary community of argumentation studies

Comparing Words to Debate about Drinking Water: Textometrics for Argumentation Studies

ISBN: 9781848902114 1848902115 1848902123 9781848902121International audienceIn ten videotaped socio-scientific debates related to water,students from Mexico, the USA and France tend to focus on afew alternative positions. On the basis of Grize’s definition ofschematization, we followed their reasoning by studying howthey cast light on specific aspects of the discursive object“water”. Through textometrical analysis of debate transcripts,we specified 6 characteristics of “water” that are more or lessemphasized depending on the prevailing nationalargumentative scenario

Group Emotions: The Social and Cognitive Functions of Emotions

International audienceThe learning sciences of today recognize the tri-dimensional nature of learning as involving cognitive, social and emotional phenomena. However, many computer-supported argumentation systems still fail in addressing the socio-emotional aspects of group reasoning, perhaps due to a lack of an integrated theoretical vision of how these three dimensions interrelate to each other. This paper presents a multi-dimensional and multi-level model of the role of emotions in argumentation, inspired from a multidisciplinary literature review and extensive previous empirical work on an international corpus of face-to-face student debates. At the crossroads of argumentation studies and research on collaborative learning, employing a linguistic perspective, we specify the social and cognitive functions of emotions in argumentation. The cognitive function of emotions refers to the cognitive and discursive process of schematization (Grize, 1996, 1997). The social function of emotions refers to recognition-oriented behaviors that correspond to engagement into specific types of group talk (e. g. Mercer in Learning and Instruction 6(4), 359–377, 1996). An in depth presentation of two case studies then enables us to refine the relation between social and cognitive functions of emotions. A first case gives arguments for associating low-intensity emotional framing, on the cognitive side, with cumulative talk, on the social side. A second case shows a correlation between high-intensity emotional framing, and disputational talk. We then propose a hypothetical generalization from these two cases, adding an element to the initial model. In conclusion, we discuss how better understanding the relations between cognition and social and emotional phenomena can inform pedagogical design for CSCL

The perceptions of violence and its effects on the psychological well-being of primary school children

Magister Psychologiae - MPsychThe purpose of this research was to ascertain how children in lowrisk, middle to upper income areas perceive violence and their experience of it. It explores their exposure to violence and how this may affect their view of the future in terms of their hopes and fears. The research was framed around Frantz Fanon's theory of violence and Urie Bronfenbrenner's Systems Theory. The aims of the research was to explore children's perceptions of violence and how this affects children's sense of wellbeing within the context of South Africa by: i) investigating how much children know and understand about the violence that is prevalent in the country, ii) discovering how this frames their perception of violence and finally iii) explore how this affects their sense of well-being. The participants of the study were 28 male and female grade 6 children, between the ages of 10 and 12 from a private school in the Cape Town metropole. There were three focus groups consisting of 8-11 children per group. This was a qualitative study. The data collection was interpreted through Thematic Analysis. The highest standards of ethical conduct and research practice were adhered to.South Afric