Oral versus written administration of the Geriatric Depression Scale.
Forty-four female nursing home residents completed the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) twice, using both oral and written administration formats. Presentation was counterbalanced. The Mini-Mental State Exam and the Mattis Dementia Rating Scale were administered to each participant between the GDS administrations. All testing was completed within one session. Test-retest reliability analysis revealed a significant correlation between oral and written administrations for higher cognitive functioning participants, but no correlation for impaired participants. Therefore, the use of the GDS in a cognitively impaired elderly population is questioned. Additionally, oral versus written administration formats were found to be not equivalent in the higher functioning group.
Cannon
B J
BJ
Marywood University, Scranton, Pennsylvania 18509, USA. cannonb@marywood.edu
Thaler
T
T
Roos
S
S
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013060:Speech; D014956:Writing