title: Prevalence of depressive symptoms as elicited by Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) among medical trainees in Oman.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Despite the increasing recognition that medical training tends to coincide with markedly high levels of stress and distress, there is a dearth of validated measures that are capable of gauging the prevalence of depressive symptoms among medical residents in the Arab/Islamic part of the world.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of the present study is two-fold. First is to examine the diagnostic validity of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) using an Omani medical resident population in order to establish a cut-off point. Second is to compare gender, age, and residency level among Omani Medical residents who report current depressive symptomatology versus those who report as non-depressed according to PHQ-9 cut-off threshold.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 132 residents (42 males and 90 females) consented to participate in this study. The cut-off score of 12 on the PHQ-9 revealed a sensitivity of 80.6% and a specificity of 94.0%. The rate of depression, as elicited by PHQ-9, was 11.4%. The role of gender, age, and residency level was not significant in endorsing depression.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study indicated that PHQ-9 is a reliable measure among this cross-cultural population. More studies employing robust methodology are needed to confirm this finding.
authors.affiliation: Department of Behavioral Medicine, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman. Electronic address: dr.ghaniya@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Ghaniya
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Al-Ghafri
authors.affiliation: Department of Behavioral Medicine, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman. Electronic address: hamad.senawi@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Hamed
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Al-Sinawi
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine and Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman. Electronic address: almaniri@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Abdullah
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Al-Muniri
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman. Electronic address: atsu@squ.edu.om.
authors.forename: Atsu S S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Dorvlo
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine and Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman; Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Boston University, MA, USA. Electronic address: ymfarsi@squ.edu.om.
authors.forename: Yahya M
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Al-Farsi
authors.affiliation: Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety-Queensland (CARRS-Q), Queensland University of Technology, 130 Victoria Park Road, Kelvin Grove, QLD 4059, Australia. Electronic address: ka.armstrong@qut.edu.au.
authors.forename: Kerry
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Armstrong
authors.affiliation: Department of Behavioral Medicine, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman. Electronic address: samir.al-adawi@fulbrightmail.org.
authors.forename: Samir
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Al-Adawi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004503:Education, Medical, Graduate; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency; D008297:Male; D009850:Oman / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011594:Psychometrics; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Depression; Medical trainees; Oman; PHQ-9; Patient Health Questionnaire; Residency; Socio-demographic