Purpose: The aim of this paper was to establish the construct validity of an emic-derived Vietnamese Depression Scale (VDS). In response to construct validity problems in translated Western depression measures and recognizing a need for a scale that reflected the culture and experiences of Vietnamese, a refugee community at high risk for depression due to their history of extremely stressful life experiences, Kinzie and his colleagues (1982) developed the VDS. As the psychometric properties have never been analyzed, it is critical to establish construct validity to ensure accurate diagnosis and prevalence rates can be determined. Given the under-representation of Vietnamese in the mental health system (DHHS, 2001), a community sample that includes those who might have depression but are not seeking help is crucial toward the determination of an accurate rate of depression among Vietnamese. Methods: 180 Vietnamese Americans (ages 18-82) were randomly selected from Vietnamese surname households in Harris and Galveston counties and also were located through social service agencies; all respondents were randomly selected from among household members aged 18 or older. The majority of participants were classified as low acculturated based on a preference to speak Vietnamese (98%), no or little ability to speak English(76%), and residence in neighborhoods with Vietnamese residents (90%). The interviews were conducted face to face by highly trained bilingual interviewers (see Yee, Nguyen, & Ha, 2003). An exploratory factor analysis, using principal component analysis with oblique rotation was perfomed with Chronbach's alpha used to assess the scale's internal consistency. Results: Principal component analysis revealed 3 factors (depressed affect, somatic, and anxiety). The depressed affect factor accounted for 40.8% of the total variance explained. The somatic and anxiety factors accounted for 14.2% and 10.1% of the variance explained, respectively. Of most interest was the unexpected placement of certain affect and somatic items. Item 14 (feel exhausted) loaded very high on the depressed affect factor (.809) instead of the somatic factor. Item 7 (feel uneasy) and item 8 (concentration levels) show similar loadings on both the depressed affect and somatic factors. Internal consistency of the total VDS scale was .876, with high alphas for each factor: .922 (depressed affect), .802 (somatic) and .811 (anxiety). Practice Implications: The mixed loadings between depressed affect and somatic symptoms suggest that Vietnamese refugees conceptualize depression differently than Euro-Americans. In addition, the third factor composed of three items: “shameful dishonored”; “desperate and complete hopeless”; and “feel I'm going crazy” suggest a heightened desperation, which is not found in the DSM-IV criteria for depression. Consistent with prior research on other Asian groups, these findings imply a need to focus attention on the somatic complaints of Vietnamese refugees. Clinicians should also be aware of the shame and desperation experienced by Vietnamese experiencing depression and take this into account when developing the treatment plan. Understanding the dimensions of the VDS will improve our ability to more accurately diagnosis and is necessary to ensure that depressed Vietnamese refugees have access to appropriate services.