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The geriatric depression scale in palliative care

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2008

Gregory B. Crawford  and
Julie A. Robinson
Gregory B. Crawford*
Affiliation:
Lyell McEwin Health Service, Elizabeth Vale, Australia Discipline of Medicine, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
Julie A. Robinson
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: G.B. Crawford, 89 Strangways Terrace, North Adelaide, 5006South Australia. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Objective:

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.

Keywords

DepressionPalliative careCancerScreening
Type
Original Articles
Information
Palliative & Supportive Care , Volume 6 , Issue 3 , September 2008 , pp. 213 - 223
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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