*2.3. Other Assessments (Depression Severity and Anxiety Levels)*

Depression severity was assessed with the shortened Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). This is a widely used self-report scale consisting of 13 items [30], which has been validated in French [31]. The total score is obtained by adding the scores of the 13 items and ranges from 0 to 39, with higher scores indicating greater depression symptoms. The Cronbach's alpha for the current study was 0.83.

Anxiety severity was assessed with the Spielberger State–Trait Inventory (STAI; [32]) which is a 40-item scale, using a 4-point Likert scale for each item. This scale was used to measure both trait anxiety (how dispositionally anxious a person is across time and situations) and state anxiety (how anxious a person is feeling at a particular moment). The Cronbach's alpha for the current study was 0.93 for the trait anxiety scale and 0.73 for the state anxiety scale.
