Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS)

The Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), first created by Yesavage, et al., has been tested and used extensively with the older population. The GDS Long Form is a brief, 30-item questionnaire in which participants are asked to respond by answering yes or no in reference to how they felt over the past week. A Short Form GDS consisting of 15 questions was developed in 1986. Questions from the Long Form GDS which had the highest correlation with depressive symptoms in validation studies were selected for the short version. Of the 15 items, 10 indicated the presence of depression when answered positively, while the rest (question numbers 1, 5, 7, 11, 13) indicated depression when answered negatively. Scores of 0-4 are considered normal, depending on age, education, and complaints; 5-8 indicate mild depression; 9-11 indicate moderate depression; and 12-15 indicate severe depression.

The Short Form is more easily used by physically ill and mildly to moderately demented patients who have short attention spans and/or feel
easily fatigued. It takes about 5 to 7 minutes to complete.

The GDS may be used with healthy, medically ill and mild to moderately cognitively impaired older adults. It has been extensively used in community, acute and long-term care settings.

The validity and reliability of the tool have been supported through both clinical practice and research. In a validation study comparing the Long and Short Forms of the GDS for self-rating of symptoms of depression, both were successful in differentiating depressed from non-depressed adults with a high correlation (r = .84, p < .001).