The Geriatric Depression Scale is basically a 30-question self-rating questionnaire used to identify clinical depression in the older aged. The scale has been developed by J.A. Yesavage and other experts. The questions on this scale have been designed to elicit specific responses from the respondent to indicate the presence of depression. The questions cover different aspects of life in the old age, with particular reference to the older aged living condition. It is hoped that through the use of the scale, older persons can be identified for special care, early diagnosis and possible treatment.
This scale has been found to be a reliable, non-preliminary instrument for screening and diagnosis of geriatric depression in older persons. The Geriatric Depression Scale has been successfully used in a number of research, clinical and lay publications. This helps in deriving important and relevant data about older persons. The scale has been widely adopted in Australia, Canada, United States and other countries. The main aim of the GERDPS is to provide a comprehensive means of diagnosing and evaluating the problems associated with geriatric depression.
The first section of the GERDPS contains questions related to general health and wellness. It is expected that the respondent's answers to these questions will reflect his current state of mind and ability to cope with the daily demands of life. The second section of the GERDPS consists of ten questions that pertain to a person's relation with the world as a whole. These questions are meant to help the psychologist in deriving a negative or positive response from the respondent. In order to score high on the gds, a person should have a positive view of himself, his abilities and his world.
To score high on the gds, you should not only have high sensitivity to touch and sound but also sensitivity to smell. The last section of the GERDPS involves responses to one-handed and two-handed physical queries. In this section, the psychologist should be able to correctly respond to inquiries pertaining to such physical aspects as gait, strength, balance, flexibility, muscle tone, vocal tone and respiration. These questions aim to determine your capacity to endure and perform on daily tasks even at a later stage of life. In order to score high, you should correctly respond to queries pertaining to blood pressure, heart rate, glucose levels, cholesterol levels, muscle mass and resistance, respiration and muscular weakness.
The first step to take to score high on the geriatric depression scale is to undergo training in assessing the diagnostic presentations of the disease. In addition to training, you should take a home visit from a certified geriatric psychiatrist or psychologist. This visit is designed to assess your situation and to elicit information about the type of treatment that would best suit you. The visit also involves discussing treatment options with the patient. This allows you to evaluate which procedures would not be detrimental to your condition.
After successfully passing the screening, the psychologist or psychiatrist would likely administer a more extensive version of the geriatric depression scale (as). The extended version covers more of the psychological and physiological assessments that were administered during the screening. The extended version can be used as a diagnosis tool to provide a better understanding of your condition. The shorter version of the scale has less psychometric properties.
The length of the questionnaire and the number of items included in the test can have a bearing on the outcome. However, this factor cannot be ignored in making a decision as the shorter version may not elicit enough response for a precise evaluation. It is also important to note that the higher the response percentage, the better the specificity of the tool. If there are a high level of response in one group and a low level of response in another group, then the test is said to have low sensitivity to detect differences between the groups. If the criterion is very sensitive, then the tool can only detect very subtle effects.
There are many research studies that attempt to validate the existence of gds in elderly populations. However, the reliability of these studies is still debatable since most of them fail to control for possible confounders such as non-specific psychological and biological factors. This has hindered efforts to identify specific characteristics of geriatric depression. Several studies conducted on both adults and elderly subjects have revealed some aspects of gds in the elderly subjects, but they fail to provide convincing arguments as to why it is particular to the aged.
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