Rating Scales for Depression in the Elderly

Kørner, Alex; Lauritzen, L.; Abelskov, Kirsten; Gulmann, Nils Christian; Brodersen, Anne-Marie; Wedervang-Jensen, Torben; Kjeldgaard, Karen Marie

doi:10.4088/jcp.v68n0305

Cited by 26 publications

(14 citation statements)

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“…Comprising 15 yes/no questions derived from the original 30-item version, it has been used in large epidemiological surveys (de Craen et al, 2003;Osborn et al, 2002), as well as in several distinct clinical conditions. In addition, the GDS-15 has been frequently used as a tool for diagnostic procedures, computing a total score by adding positive responses, and several papers have consequently explored diagnostic cut-off points (D'Ath et al, 1994;de Craen et al, 2003;Korner et al, 2007;Osborn et al, 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Is Geriatric Depression Scale-15 a suitable instrument for measuring depression in Brazil? Results of a Rasch analysis

Chachamovich

Fleck

Power

2010

Psychology, Health & Medicine

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Depressive symptoms are the most prevalent mental health condition in older adults. Since it cannot be measured directly, the use of instruments is mandatory. The 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) is one of the most widely used scales to measure depression in the elderly. It is recognized that the cultural context is a major determinant of the instrument's psychometric performance. Up to the present, this scale has mainly been investigated through classical psychometric approaches. The present study aims to explore whether the 15-item GDS is a suitable instrument in a Brazilian sample. In addition, it explores the potential improvement in the psychometric performance by item refinement. Four hundred twenty-four elderly adults selected through convenience sampling completed the 15-item GDS. Data were analyzed by the Rasch Measurement Model. The Rasch analysis is a powerful modern approach to explore psychometric performance of instruments in health sciences. It examines both the scale and the individual item performance in depth. The 15-item GDS proved not to be suitable in a Brazilian sample. Item misfit and differential item functioning were responsible for considerable misperformance. Scale reduction led to a 10-item structure. This refined format presented adequate psychometric performance and no differential item functioning. The present study offers an alternative and more adequate version of the GDS to be applied in Brazilian subjects. It is also in line with the need for shorter, valid scales in clinical settings. Further investigations are needed to develop a set of cultural-invariant items, which could then be applied in transcultural investigations free of bias.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Is Geriatric Depression Scale-15 a suitable instrument for measuring depression in Brazil? Results of a Rasch analysis

Chachamovich

Fleck

Power

2010

Psychology, Health & Medicine

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“…In two landmark studies from 1975 (6) and 1981 (7), respectively, Bech et al demonstrated that the original HDRS met none of these two criteria. This lack of psychometric validity of the HDRS has been confirmed in a large number of studies since then (8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15). Therefore, the total score of the HDRS cannot be considered as a clinically valid measure of the severity of depression (5,16).…”

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confidence: 99%

Do not blame the SSRIs: blame the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale

Østergaard

2017

Acta Neuropsychiatr.

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“…In addition, some items have comparatively poor inter-rater and retest reliability, and the response-option format may not be optimal [17]. In light of these findings, some have suggested that the 17-item HAM-D may be less than ideal for clinical research applications [14,15,17,18]. …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychometric properties of responses by clinicians and older adults to a 6-item Hebrew version of the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D6)

et al. 2013

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BackgroundThe Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D) is commonly used as a screening instrument, as a continuous measure of change in depressive symptoms over time, and as a means to compare the relative efficacy of treatments. Among several abridged versions, the 6-item HAM-D6 is used most widely in large degree because of its good psychometric properties. The current study compares both self-report and clinician-rated versions of the Hebrew version of this scale.MethodsA total of 153 Israelis 75 years of age on average participated in this study. The HAM-D6 was examined using confirmatory factor analytic (CFA) models separately for both patient and clinician responses.ResultsReponses to the HAM-D6 suggest that this instrument measures a unidimensional construct with each of the scales’ six items contributing significantly to the measurement. Comparisons between self-report and clinician versions indicate that responses do not significantly differ for 4 of the 6 items. Moreover, 100% sensitivity (and 91% specificity) was found between patient HAM-D6 responses and clinician diagnoses of depression.ConclusionThese results indicate that the Hebrew HAM-D6 can be used to measure and screen for depressive symptoms among elderly patients.

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Rating Scales for Depression in the Elderly

Cited by 26 publications

References 0 publications

Is Geriatric Depression Scale-15 a suitable instrument for measuring depression in Brazil? Results of a Rasch analysis

Is Geriatric Depression Scale-15 a suitable instrument for measuring depression in Brazil? Results of a Rasch analysis

Do not blame the SSRIs: blame the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale

Psychometric properties of responses by clinicians and older adults to a 6-item Hebrew version of the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D6)

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