Evaluating the Tree Drawing Test Depression Assessment Scale for adolescent depression screening.

To assess the effectiveness of the Tree Drawing Test Depression Assessment Scale in screening for depressive disorders among adolescents. This study adopted a case-control design involving 50 adolescents diagnosed with depressive disorders and 54 healthy controls. Participants were administered the Tree Drawing Test (TDT), a subjective projective assessment tool that evaluates psychological states through the analysis of individually drawn tree images. In addition, computerized image recognition and data acquisition technologies were employed. The Tree Drawing Depression Assessment Scale was used for evaluation, and the results were subjected to statistical analysis. The total score differences between the depression group and the control group were statistically significant (p < 0.001). With a cutoff score of 13, the Youden Index was 0.761, sensitivity was 0.780, specificity was 0.981, and the positive and negative predictive values were 0.952 and 0.839, respectively. The Cohen's Kappa coefficient between the two raters ranged from 0.753 to 0.977. The Tree Drawing Depression Assessment Scale demonstrates good screening efficacy and effectively distinguishes adolescents with depressive disorders from healthy controls. It can serve as a preliminary screening tool for adolescent depression. However, this study has certain limitations, including a relatively small sample size and the absence of consideration for cultural differences, which may affect the generalizability of the findings. Future research should expand the sample size and examine the tool's applicability across different cultural contexts.