"Are you depressed?" Screening for depression in the terminally ill
OBJECTIVE: This study compared the performance of four brief screening measures for depression in a group of terminally ill patients. The methods included 1) a single-item interview assessing depressed mood, 2) a two-item interview assessing depressed mood and loss of interest in activities, 3) a vi...
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Published in | The American journal of psychiatry Vol. 154; no. 5; pp. 674 - 676 |
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Main Authors | , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Washington, DC
American Psychiatric Publishing
01.05.1997
American Psychiatric Association |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | OBJECTIVE: This study compared the performance of four brief screening
measures for depression in a group of terminally ill patients. The methods
included 1) a single-item interview assessing depressed mood, 2) a two-item
interview assessing depressed mood and loss of interest in activities, 3) a
visual analog scale for depressed mood, and 4) the Beck Depression
Inventory-Short Form. METHOD: Semistructured diagnostic interviews for
depression were administered to 197 patients receiving palliative care for
advanced cancer. The interview diagnoses served as the standards against
which the screening performance of the four brief screening methods was
assessed. RESULTS: Single-item interview screening correctly identified the
eventual diagnostic outcome of every patient, substantially outperforming
the questionnaire and visual analog measures. CONCLUSIONS: Brief screening
measures for depression are important clinical tools for terminally ill
patients. For diagnostic purposes, however, they do not approach the
validity of a single-item interview that asks, in effect, "Are you
depressed?" |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 0002-953X 1535-7228 |
DOI: | 10.1176/ajp.154.5.674 |