scholarly journals The geriatric depression scale in palliative care

2008 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 213-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory B. Crawford ◽  
Julie A. Robinson

ABSTRACTObjective:This research examined the psychometric properties of previously published short forms of the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) in patients receiving palliative care. It also uses the full form of the GDS to examine the prevalence of nonsomatic symptoms of depression in palliative patients.Method:Participants were 84 patients with advanced cancer attending palliative care outpatient clinics. Scores for short forms of the GDS were derived from administering the original 30-item scale. Patients also completed the single item numerical analogue scale for depression from the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System and parallel numerical analogue scales for will-to-live and hope. A subset of the sample completed the measures twice. Short forms were judged on the extent to which they captured information gained from the full scale and their internal consistency, test–retest reliability, convergent and concurrent validity, and their distribution of scores.Results:Overall, five short forms showed good psychometric properties at both visits. Two of these forms were very brief. Some nonsomatic symptoms assessed on the full GDS were reported with high frequency. However, few individuals reported a large number of symptoms. At both visits, patients identified as likely to have severe depression gave different responses from other patients on most items on the GDS-30.Significance of results:Several short forms of the GDS may be appropriate for use in palliative care. Patients identified as likely to have severe depression showed many of the same symptoms that characterise depression in other geriatric populations.

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni Galeoto ◽  
Julita Sansoni ◽  
Michela Scuccimarri ◽  
Valentina Bruni ◽  
Rita De Santis ◽  
...  

Objective. The Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) is an evaluation tool to diagnose older adult’s depression. This questionnaire was defined by Yesavage and Brink in 1982; it was designed expressly for the older person and defines his/her degree of satisfaction, quality of life, and feelings. The objective of this study is to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Italian translation of the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-IT). Methods. The Italian version of the Geriatric Depression Scale was administered to 119 people (79 people with a depression diagnosis and 40 healthy ones). We examined the following psychometric characteristics: internal consistency reliability, test-retest reliability, concurrent validity, and construct validity (factor structure). Results. Cronbach’s Alpha for the GDS-IT administered to the depressed sample was 0.84. Test-retest reliability was 0.91 and the concurrent validity was 0.83. The factorial analysis showed a structure of 5 factors, and the scale cut-off is between 10 and 11. Conclusion. The GDS-IT proved to be a reliable and valid questionnaire for the evaluation of depression in an Italian population. In the present study, the GDS-IT showed good psychometric properties. Health professionals now have an assessment tool for the evaluation of depression symptoms in the Italian population.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roshana Shrestha ◽  
Anmol Purna Shrestha ◽  
Abha Shrestha ◽  
Barbara Kamholz

Abstract Background: Depression is prevalent but poorly recognized in the Emergency Department (ED). We aimed to identify the frequency of unrecognized geriatric depression and its possible determinants in the ED using the 15-item geriatric depression scale (GDS). We also aimed to explore the performance of the shorter, five-item GDS as compared to the 15-item GDS.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of the ED patients ≥ 60 years. The previously validated Nepali version of GDS-15 screened the sample into “no”, “mild-moderate” and “severe" depression using cutoff values of 4/5, and 8/9 respectively. Demographic and socioeconomic factors, comorbidities and health seeking behaviors were studied and the relation was assessed with binary (Chi-square and Kruskal-Wallis test) and multinomial regression analysis. The performance of GDS-5 was compared with the GDS-15 as standard. Cronbach’s alpha was calculated to investigate reliability. Validity was assessed by calculating sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, Spearman’s correlation, receiver operating characteristic curve, and kappa coefficient.Results: 280 patients were enrolled with an overall prevalence of unrecognized depression of 45.7 % [104 (81.3%) mild-moderate depression, and 24 (18.8%) severe depression]. The mean age of the sample was 71.36 with female predominance (61%), and 82.5% were illiterate. In the binary analysis, those who had more pain, visited the ED more often, had musculoskeletal diseases and sleep problems, mobility problems, visited local healers previously, and who reported self-perceived “heart and mind” disease showed statistically significant differences among the three categories. In multinomial regression analysis, visits to local healers, sleep problems and frequency of pain were significantly related to depression. The sensitivity, specificity, area under curve and Spearman’s correlation of GDS-5 were 75.8%, 96%, 0.919, and 0.827 respectively. Cronbach's alpha for GDS-5 was low (0.416), therefore a new version was proposed which improved the sensitivity to 90.6% and Cronbach’s alpha to 0.623.Conclusions: Unrecognized geriatric depression was highly prevalent which urges the need for ED-based interventions for screening and referral. The proposed brief GDS-5 correlated well with the GDS-15 with better validity and internal reliability and offers a more expeditious form of screening for geriatric depression in emergency settings in Nepal.


2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Jingjing Zhou ◽  
Linlin Xiao ◽  
Yicheng Zhou ◽  
Guoqiang Rui ◽  
Xianlin Ni

We used the Geriatric Depression Scale to investigate the depression status of empty nesters living in eastern rural China (N = 967). The results showed that more than half of the participants suffered relatively severe depression and that their mental health was not favorable. Gender, age, level of education, and marital status had a significant influence on depression status. The degree of depression of men was lower than that of women. As participants’ age increased, the degree of depression first rose until the age of 84 and then fell thereafter. The depression of unmarried empty nesters was relatively severe compared to that of married ones. Finally, a higher level of education corresponded with a lower degree of depression. There are varied factors affecting the psychological status of empty nesters in China. To improve their mental state, the government, society, and family need to collaborate and take comprehensive measures.


2014 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 368-377 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eduardo Lopes Nogueira ◽  
Leonardo Librelotto Rubin ◽  
Sara de Souza Giacobbo ◽  
Irenio Gomes ◽  
Alfredo Cataldo Neto

OBJECTIVE To analyze the prevalence of depression in older adults and associated factors. METHODS Cross-sectional study using a stratified random sample of 621 individuals aged ≥ 60 from 27 family health teams in Porto Alegre, RS, Southern Brazil, between 2010 and 2012. Community health agents measured depression using the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale. Scores of ≥ 6 were considered as depression and between 11 and 15 as severe depression. Poisson regression was used to search for independent associations of sociodemographic and self-perceived health with both depression and its severity. RESULTS The prevalence of depression was 30.6% and was significantly higher in women (35.9% women versus 20.9% men, p < 0.001). The variables independently associated with depression were: female gender (PR = 1.4, 95%CI 1.1;1.8); low education, especially illiteracy (PR = 1.8, 95%CI 1.2;2 6); regular self-rated health (OR = 2.2, 95%CI 1.6;3.0); and poor/very poor self-rated health (PR = 4.0, 95%CI 2.9;5.5). Except for education, the strength of association of these factors increases significantly in severe depression. CONCLUSIONS A high prevalence of depression was observed in the evaluations conducted by community health agents, professionals who are not highly specialized. The findings identified using the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale in this way are similar to those in the literature, with depression more associated with low education, female gender and worse self-rated health. From a primary health care strategic point of view, the findings become still more relevant, indicating that community health agents could play an important role in identifying depression in older adults.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Roshana Shrestha ◽  
Anmol Purna Shrestha ◽  
Abha Shrestha ◽  
Barbara Kamholz

Abstract Background Depression is prevalent but poorly recognized in the Emergency Department (ED). We aimed to identify the frequency of unrecognized geriatric depression and its possible determinants in the ED using the 15-item geriatric depression scale (GDS). We also aimed to explore the performance of the shorter, five-item GDS as compared to the 15-item GDS. Methods This was a cross-sectional study of the ED patients ≥ 60 years. The previously validated Nepali version of GDS-15 screened the sample into “no”, “mild-moderate” and “severe” depression using cutoff values of 4/5, and 8/9 respectively. Demographic and socioeconomic factors, comorbidities and health seeking behaviors were studied and the relation was assessed with binary (Chi-square and Kruskal-Wallis test) and multinomial regression analysis. The performance of GDS-5 was compared with the GDS-15 as standard. Cronbach’s alpha was calculated to investigate reliability. Validity was assessed by calculating sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, Spearman’s correlation, receiver operating characteristic curve, and kappa coefficient. Results Two hundred eighty patients were enrolled with an overall prevalence of unrecognized depression of 45.7% [104 (81.3%) mild-moderate depression, and 24 (18.8%) severe depression]. The mean age of the sample was 71.36 with female predominance (61%), and 82.5% were illiterate. In the binary analysis, those who had more pain, visited the ED more often, had musculoskeletal diseases and sleep problems, mobility problems, visited local healers previously, and who reported self-perceived “heart and mind” disease showed statistically significant differences among the three categories. In multinomial regression analysis, visits to local healers, sleep problems and frequency of pain were significantly related to depression. The sensitivity, specificity, area under curve and Spearman’s correlation of GDS-5 were 75.8%, 96%, 0.919, and 0.827 respectively. Cronbach’s alpha for GDS-5 was low (0.416), therefore a new version was proposed which improved the sensitivity to 90.6% and Cronbach’s alpha to 0.623. Conclusions Unrecognized geriatric depression was highly prevalent which urges the need for ED-based interventions for screening and referral. The proposed brief GDS-5 correlated well with the GDS-15 with better validity and internal reliability and offers a more expeditious form of screening for geriatric depression in emergency settings in Nepal.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roshana Shrestha ◽  
Anmol Purna Shrestha ◽  
Abha Shrestha ◽  
Barbara Kamholz

Abstract Background Depression is prevalent but poorly recognized in the Emergency Department (ED). We aimed to determine the prevalence of geriatric depression and its possible determinants in the ED using the 15-item geriatric depression scale (GDS). We also aimed to explore the performance of the shorter, five-item GDS as compared to the 15-item GDS. Methods This was a cross-sectional study with convenience sampling of the ED patients ≥ 60 years. The previously validated Nepali version of GDS-15 screened the sample into “no”, “mild-moderate” and “severe" depression using cutoff values of 4/5, and 8/9 respectively. Demographic and socioeconomic factors, comorbidities and health seeking behaviour were studied and the relation was assessed with binary (Chi-square and Kruskal-Wallis test) and multinomial regression analysis. The performance of GDS-5 was compared with the GDS-15 as standard. Cronbach’s alpha was calculated to investigate reliability. Validity was assessed by calculating sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, Spearman’s correlation, receiver operating characteristic curve, and kappa coefficient. Results 280 patients were enrolled with an overall prevalence of depression of 45.7% [104 (81.3%) mild-moderate depression, and 24 (18.8%) severe depression]. The mean age of the sample was 71.36 with female predominance (61%), and 82.5% were illiterate. In the binary analysis, those who had more pain, visited the ED more often, had musculoskeletal diseases and sleep problems, mobility problems, visited local healers previously, and who reported self-perceived “heart and mind” disease showed statistically significant differences among the three categories. In multinomial regression analysis, visits to local healers, sleep problems and frequency of pain were significantly related to depression. The sensitivity, specificity, area under curve and Spearman’s correlation of GDS-5 were 75.8%, 96%, 0.919, and 0.827 respectively. Cronbach's alpha for GDS-5 was low (0.416), therefore a new version was proposed which improved the sensitivity to 90.6% and Cronbach’s alpha to 0.623. Conclusions Geriatric depression was highly prevalent which urges the need for ED-based interventions for screening and referral. The proposed brief GDS-5 correlated well with the GDS-15 with better validity and internal reliability and offers a more expeditious form of screening for geriatric depression in emergency settings in Nepal.


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