The Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) is a simple list of questions that can be answered with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to assess whether a patient is clinically depressed. It has a short and long format and is effective in determining depression in older adults.
The Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) is a common tool in nursing settings to assess whether a patient is clinically depressed. Most other standard depression tests use a graded statement response system, choosing from four or more nuanced responses for each statement. The GDS, by contrast, is a simple list of questions that can be answered with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ and comes in a short and long format.
Created by JA Yesavage in 1983, the Geriatric Depression Scale was first studied with older Chinese adults, then adopted for use in the United States and many other continents. A 1986 report on the Geriatric Depression Scale in The Journal of Aging and Mental Health found that surveying was as effective as other accepted tests such as the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression and the Depression Adjective Checklist for determining depression.
The Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing (HIGN) estimated in 2007 that about 5,000,000 older Americans were clinically depressed, or about one in six ages 65 and older. The percentage of people with depression increases dramatically when acute care is also needed. According to HIGN, nearly half of all nursing home patients — 42 percent — exhibit symptoms and mindsets of depression.
With age and disability come cognitive hurdles; hearing and understanding are not what they used to be. The Geriatric Depression Scale contrasts this reality with questions that are easy to understand and answer. There are no gradations of feelings, which can vary from day to day and even from hour to hour. Patients simply answer “yes” or “no” and a dot is tabulated each time a certain question is answered.
A short and a long form of the test are readily available; the long form has 30 questions and the short form has only 10 questions. The answer key is simple to understand for scoring purposes. A normal level of depression would score nine or less on the long-term test. Mild depression is indicated by a score between 10 and 19, while severe depression is indicated by a score between 20 and 30. The short form score is just as easy to classify.
The questions about the GDS are straightforward, getting to the heart of the matter. The very first question, in both short and long form, is, “Are you basically satisfied with your life?” Others are also typically pointed at, with questions like, “Do you often feel helpless?” “Do you often feel like crying?” “Is your mind as clear as it used to be?” “Do you worry a lot about the past?” These types of questions are easy to understand even for the elderly or the disoriented.
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