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Development of a brief screening instrument: the HANDS
L Baer1, D G Jacobs, J Meszler-Reizes
1Massachusetts General Hospital-East, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA. baer@psych.mgh.harvard.edu
Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics
|December 22, 1999
Summary
A new 10-item Harvard Department of Psychiatry/NDSD scale (HANDS) effectively screens for depression, matching the validity of longer scales with a quicker administration time.
Area of Science:
- Psychiatry
- Psychological Assessment
- Mental Health Screening
Background:
- Developing briefer, valid depression screening tools is crucial for clinical practice.
- Existing scales like the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale can be lengthy for widespread screening.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a concise ~10-item screening scale for depression.
- To maintain the validity of established depression scales in diverse populations.
- To create a tool suitable for National Depression Screening Day (NDSD) and general audiences.
Main Methods:
- Administered 70 items to 95 subjects, confirmed diagnoses via Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID).
- Reduced items to 17 based on diagnostic correlation, then tested on 45 additional subjects.
- Utilized item-response theory to finalize the 10-item Harvard Department of Psychiatry/NDSD scale (HANDS).
Main Results:
- The 10-item HANDS demonstrated good internal consistency and validity.
- A cutpoint score of 9+ yielded at least 95% sensitivity.
- HANDS performance was comparable to longer scales like Zung, Beck Depression Inventory-II, and Hopkins Symptom Depression Checklist.
Conclusions:
- The 10-item HANDS is a valid and reliable depression screening tool.
- HANDS offers a significant advantage in administration time compared to longer scales.
- This scale is suitable for both clinical screening and general population assessment.