How To try this: The Geriatric Depression Scale Short Form

Depression is underrecognized in older adults, especially those with chronic conditions such as heart disease and arthritis. Left untreated, depression may progress and have dramatic effects on overall health. The Geriatric Depression Scale: Short Form is a 15-question screening tool for depression in older adults that takes five to seven minutes to complete and can be filled out by the patient or administered by a provider with minimal training in its use. The questions focus on mood; the score can help clinicians decide whether further assessment is needed. (This screening tool is included in a series, Try This: Best Practices in Nursing Care to Older Adults, from the Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing at New York University's College of Nursing.) For a free online video demonstrating the use of this tool, go to http://links.lww.com/A101.

[1]  Y. Conwell,et al.  The clinical significance of subsyndromal depression in older primary care patients. , 2007, The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry.

[2]  N. Gimpel,et al.  Validation of a telephone-administered geriatric depression scale in a hispanic elderly population , 2001, Journal of General Internal Medicine.

[3]  Daniel Weintraub,et al.  Test characteristics of the 15-item geriatric depression scale and Hamilton depression rating scale in Parkinson disease. , 2006, The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry.

[4]  D. Chiriboga,et al.  Acculturation and manifestation of depressive symptoms among Korean-American older adults , 2005, Aging & mental health.

[5]  B. Friedman,et al.  Psychometric Properties of the 15‐Item Geriatric Depression Scale in Functionally Impaired, Cognitively Intact, Community‐Dwelling Elderly Primary Care Patients , 2005, Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

[6]  D. Redelmeier,et al.  Medical illness and the risk of suicide in the elderly. , 2004, Archives of internal medicine.

[7]  M. Bruce,et al.  Recognition of Late‐Life Depression in Home Care: Accuracy of the Outcome and Assessment Information Set , 2004, Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

[8]  D. Dunlop,et al.  Arthritis and Heart Disease as Risk Factors for Major Depression: The Role of Functional Limitation , 2004, Medical care.

[9]  I. Katz,et al.  Effect of Psychiatric and Other Nonmotor Symptoms on Disability in Parkinson's Disease , 2004, Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

[10]  D. Blazer,et al.  Epidemiology of late-life mental disorders. , 2003, Clinics in geriatric medicine.

[11]  J. Flacker,et al.  Does Question Comprehension Limit the Utility of the Geriatric Depression Scale in Older African Americans? , 2003, Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

[12]  A. Mui,et al.  Reliability of the Geriatric Depression Scale for Use Among Elderly Asian Immigrants in the USA , 2003, International Psychogeriatrics.

[13]  Daniel Weintraub,et al.  Recognition and Treatment of Depression in Parkinson's Disease , 2003, Journal of geriatric psychiatry and neurology.

[14]  R. Petersen,et al.  A collaborative study of the emergence and clinical features of the major depressive syndrome of Alzheimer's disease. , 2003, The American journal of psychiatry.

[15]  B. Burns,et al.  DEPRESSION AND HEALTH-RELATED QUALITY OF LIFE , 2002, The Journal of nervous and mental disease.

[16]  W. Weiner,et al.  Non-recognition of depression and other non-motor symptoms in Parkinson's disease. , 2002, Parkinsonism & related disorders.

[17]  M. Martens,et al.  Prevalence, clinical manifestations, etiology, and treatment of depression in Parkinson's disease. , 2001, The Journal of neuropsychiatry and clinical neurosciences.

[18]  W. Haley,et al.  Cross-cultural comparability of the Geriatric Depression Scale: Comparison between older Koreans and older Americans , 2001, Aging & mental health.

[19]  Marjan Jahanshahi,et al.  What contributes to quality of life in patients with Parkinson's disease? , 2000, Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry.

[20]  D. Aarsland,et al.  Predictors of Nursing Home Placement in Parkinson's Disease: A Population‐Based, Prospective Study , 2000, Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

[21]  Mark E. Williams,et al.  Diagnosis and Treatment of Depression in Late Life , 1992 .

[22]  Y. Conwell,et al.  Screening for depression in elderly primary care patients. A comparison of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale and the Geriatric Depression Scale. , 1997, Archives of internal medicine.

[23]  W. Burke,et al.  The Reliability and Validity of the Geriatric Depression Rating Scale Administered by Telephone , 1995, Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

[24]  H. Mayberg,et al.  A prospective longitudinal study of depression, cognitive decline, and physical impairments in patients with Parkinson's disease. , 1992, Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry.

[25]  M. Briley.  NIH consensus conference. Diagnosis and treatment of depression in late life. , 1992, JAMA.

[26]  W. Burke,et al.  The Short Form of the Geriatric Depression Scale: A Comparison With the 30-Item Form , 1991, Journal of geriatric psychiatry and neurology.

[27]  D. Blazer,et al.  Self‐Rated Depression Scales and Screening for Major Depression in the Older Hospitalized Patient with Medical Illness , 1988, Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

[28]  J. Yesavage,et al.  Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS): Recent evidence and development of a shorter version. , 1986 .

[29]  V. Leirer,et al.  Development and validation of a geriatric depression screening scale: a preliminary report. , 1982, Journal of psychiatric research.