title: The Depression Screening Instrument (DSI): a device for the detection of depressive disorders in general practice.
abstract: The paper describes the design, application and psychometric properties of a 16-item depression screening questionnaire for use in community surveys carried out in general practice. The instrument was shown to have a satisfactory factorial structure and a high internal reliability. All 16 items showed very significant discrimination between a patient and a population sample and the total score correlated highly with that of two other widely used instruments. When measured against the PSE CATEGO-ID ratings the instrument was shown to have a high degree of validity and the value of the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was high. Sensitivity and specificity levels were presented for a range of cutting points.
authors.affiliation: MRC Social Psychiatry Unit, Institute of Psychiatry, London, U.K.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Birtchnell
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Deahl
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Masters
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D005194:Family Practice; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011581:Psychological Tests; D011594:Psychometrics; D012017:Referral and Consultation