Saundra's Corner
Geriatric Depression Scale Short Form (GDS-SF)
09/29/2016
How to Use
- 15-item screening tool used to identify depression in older adults
- Used with healthy, medically ill and mild to moderately cognitively impaired adults
- Extensively used in community, acute and long-term care settings
- Easy to administer and score
- Same “yes/no” format as the LF
- Takes ~ 5-7 minutes to administer
- Public domain – many languages
- The GDS-SF is a subset of 15 questions from the original GDS-LF with the highest correlation with depressive symptoms
- Data supports the SF as an adequate substitute for the LF
How to Score
Answers indicating depression are in bold; score one point for each bolded answer.
- A score of 0 to 5 is normal
- A score > 5 suggests depression
- A score ≥ 10 is almost always indicative of depression
Yesavage J.A., Brink T.L., Rose T.L. et al. Development and validation of a geriatric depression screening scale: a preliminary report. J. Psychiatr Res. 1983; 17:37-49; www.stanford.edu/~yesavage/GDS.html
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