Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Measuring Depression In Prostate Cancer Patients: Does The Scale Used Make A Difference?, Christopher Sharpley, Vicki Bitsika, David Christie, Myra Hunter

Vicki Bitsika

This study investigated differences in the scores, relative severity and major depressive disorder (MDD) and subsyndromal depression status from three standardised self-report scales for depression in prostate cancer (PCa) patients. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale Depression subscale (HADS-D), the Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS) and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) for depression were administered to a sample of 138 PCa patients via mail-out self-reports in Queensland, Australia during May 2014. Despite significant correlations between the total scores from the three scales, severity classification differed across the three scales and there was evidence of considerable underestimation of depression by the HADS-D …