title: Routine PHQ-9 depression screening in home health care: depression, prevalence, clinical and treatment characteristics and screening implementation.
abstract: This study aimed to examine: the prevalence and correlates of depression among adults age 65 and over on admission to diverse home health care programs; nurse compliance with routine screening using the PHQ-9; and concordance between the number of depressed individuals identified by the PHQ-9 and Medicare-mandated nursing assessment following targeted nurse training in identifying depression among the elderly using a standard diagnostic screen. Data are drawn from routine screening of 9,178 patients (a 77% screening compliance rate). Of all patients screened, 782 (8.5%) met criteria for probable major depression and 148 (1.6%) for mild depression. Concordance between nurse identified depression via PHQ-9 and OASIS depression assessment improved over that reported in previous studies. Findings suggest that the use of a routine screening tool for depression can be implemented with minimal in-house training and improves detection of depression among older adults with significant physical and functional impairment.
authors.affiliation: School of Social Work, MRF 102R, MC 0411, University of Southern California, Los Ageles, 90089-0411, USA. ell@usc.edu
authors.forename: Kathleen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ell
authors.forename: Jurgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Unützer
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aranda
authors.forename: Kathleen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sanchez
authors.forename: Pey-Jiuan
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003152:Community Health Nursing / Q000592:standards*; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D003955:Diagnostic Tests, Routine / Q000451:nursing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006699:Home Care Services / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology