Table 1.
Details of Select Patient Screening Tools for Depression and Suicide That are Suited to Clinical Practice
| Patient Screening Tool | Details |
|---|---|
| Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) | ● A brief self-administered questionnaire for mental disorders scoring each of the 9-DSM-IV criteria as “0” (not at all) to “3” (nearly every day) ● Higher scores indicate increasing severity of depression ● It takes approximately 2 minutes to complete10,56 |
| Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) | ● Designed to be a simple and reliable tool for the evaluation of anxiety and depression in clinical practice ● It takes only 2–5 minutes to complete ● Seven items each for depression and anxiety, with a score of 8–10 being indicative of the presence of depression or anxiety in the patient57 |
| Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) | ● Long-form version is a brief 30-item questionnaire in which participants are asked to respond by answering yes or no in reference to how they felt over the past week ● A short-form version consisting of 15 questions that can be completed in 5–7 minutes is also available ● The most extensively tested and used depression scale in the elderly population ● Increasing scores indicate increasing severity58,59 |
| Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale | ● A 10-item self-completed questionnaire that can be completed in 5 minutes, with simple scoring to determine depression in new mothers60 |
| Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS) | ● Quantifies the severity of suicidal ideation and behavior in clinical and research settings ● Measures 4 constructs including severity of ideation, intensity of ideation, behavior, and lethality ● The questionnaire should take between 5 and 8 minutes to complete11,61 |
| Mood Disorders Questionnaire (MDQ) | ● Frequently used screening questionnaire for BPD that can be completed in 5 minutes in primary care settings ● Includes 13 questions plus items that assess clustering of symptoms and degree of functional impairment ● Patients who screen positive on the MDQ should undergo a full clinical evaluation for BPD15,16 |
| Rapid Mood Screener (RMS) | ● Utilizes easily understood terminology to screen for manic symptoms and BPD risk factors in less than 2 minutes ● Can be used during or outside of a clinical visit (eg, online, waiting room, via electronic medical record system)15 |
Abbreviations: BPD, bipolar disorder; DSM-IV, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition.