Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 23, 2026
Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Hyperscanning Study in Psychological Counseling
Published on: January 17, 2025
Validity study of Patient Health Questionnaire-9 items for Internet screening in depression among Chinese university
Background:
Internet intervention in Chinese university students would be a possible approach to overcome the gap between high rate of depression and high rates of underdiagnosis and undertreatment. As a popular measure of screening, the feasibility and user satisfaction of Patient Health Questionnaire-9 items for online program were tested.
Methods:
The subjects were enrolled based on an email list from the students' office of a Chinese university, and 300 undergraduate students were randomly invited of which 230 (76.7%) students were willing to participate in the study and completed the first test. After 2 weeks, a subsample of 150 (65.2%) subjects were randomly chosen to retake the test for the test-retest reliability. And 81 (35.2%) among the 230 subjects were randomly selected to undergo the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview within 48 hours. Among 150 subjects, 120 (52.2%) completed client satisfaction questionnaire about this online screening program.
Results:
(1) The Cronbach alpha was 0.80 and the test-retest reliability was 0.78. (2) The optimal cutoff score of 10 revealed a sensitivity of 0.74 and specificity of 0.85, with an area under the curve of 0.897 (95% confidence interval, 0.823-0.970). (3) The mean duration of administration was 3.5 minutes. (4) Satisfaction with the online screening program was highly appreciated.
Conclusions:
The results indicated potential value of the online screening program for further Internet-administrated programs of depression among Chinese university students.
