This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Kemp, B. J. Articles by Adams, B. M. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Kemp, B. J. Articles by Adams, B. M. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

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

Department of Family Medicine, and the Department of Psychiatry and the Behavior Sciences, the University of Southern California, Rancho Los Amigos Medical Center

Brad M. Adams, MA

Department of Family Medicine, and the Department of Psychiatry and the Behavior Sciences, the University of Southern California, Rancho Los Amigos Medical Center

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.

Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neurology, Vol. 8, No. 3, 162-167 (1995)
DOI: 10.1177/089198879500800304


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. M. Mitchell and B. J. Kemp Quality of Life in Assisted Living Homes: A Multidimensional Analysis J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci, March 1, 2000; 55(2): P117 - P127. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]