Assessment of agreement between the RADS-2 and CES-D scales in screening for depressive symptoms among high school students in Hanoi in 2022

Depression is a common mental health problem among adolescents, negatively affecting academic performance, social relationships, and quality of life. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 521 high school students in Hanoi in 2022 to assess the level of agreement of two self reported screening scales for depression namelyRADS-2 (the Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale-2) and CES-D (Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale). Data were collected online using KoboToolbox and analyzed with STATA 18 (College Station, Texas, USA). Descriptive statistics, Chi square tests, Pearson correlation, and Cohen’s Kappa coefficient were used to evaluate the correlation and agreement between the two scales. The prevalence of depression was 36.5% based on RADS-2 and 40.7% based on CES-D. Grade 12 students had the highest rates (RADS-2: 45.7%; CES-D: 46.3%), while grade 10 students had the lowest. The most frequent symptoms were fatigue, poor concentration, sadness, and loneliness (15–29%). Depression among high school students in Hanoi is a significant concern, with prevalence ranging from 36.5% to 40.7%. The Pearson correlation coefficient between the total scores of the two scales was r = 0.857 (p < 0.001), and the Kappa agreement coefficient was 0.67 (p < 0.001), indicating a good level of agreement between the two tools. The findings suggest that both RADS-2 and CES D are valuable for school-based depression screening; CES D is suitable for rapid routine assessments, while RADS-2 provides a more comprehensive evaluation for in-depth research.