The Older Adult Health and Mood Questionnaire: A Measure of Geriatric Depressive Disorder

Abstract

Depressive disorders are a common problem in late life, requiring consistent and reliable screening by clinicians. Such screening should be based upon the most recent criteria available to facilitate diagnostic and nosologic agreement. This study presents a new screening instrument for geriatric depressive disorders based upon DSM-III-R criteria and the known differences in the display of depression that occur among older persons. The Older Adult Health and Mood Questionnaire (OAHMQ) is a 22-item questionnaire with sound psychometric properties and high validity. Its validation included comparisons with diagnostic assessments by geriatrically-trained psychiatrists and psychologists, and factor analysis. Using a three-part division of “normal,” “clinically significant depressive symptoms,” and “probable major depression,” its sensitivity is .80 and its specificity is .87 for major depression, and .92 and .87, respectively, for any depressive disorder. Separate scoring of affective symptoms versus other symptoms of depression (i.e., physiologic, cognitive, or behavioral) can be useful for diagnostic and research purposes.

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