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The value of distinct depressive symptoms (PHQ‐9) to differentiate depression severity in cancer survivors: An item response approach
Author(s) -
Donk Loek J.,
Bickel Esmée A.,
Krijnen Wim P.,
Tovote K. Annika,
Sanderman Robbert,
Schroevers Maya J.,
Fleer Joke
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
psycho‐oncology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.41
H-Index - 137
eISSN - 1099-1611
pISSN - 1057-9249
DOI - 10.1002/pon.5192
Subject(s) - depression (economics) , clinical psychology , depressive symptoms , mood , cognition , somatic cell , psychiatry , psychology , medicine , economics , macroeconomics , biochemistry , chemistry , gene
Depressive symptoms are common among cancer patients and may persist after finishing curative treatment. Typical depressive symptoms include cognitive‐affective symptoms, such as having a depressed mood and somatic symptoms such as fatigue. It is well known that somatic symptoms of depression may overlap with symptoms of the illness and its treatment, hereby increasing the risk of false‐positive diagnoses. Whether or not to include somatic symptoms in the assessment of depressive symptoms in cancer patients has therefore been an on‐going debate over the past decades, with recent studies suggesting to include somatic symptoms also in persons with a somatic condition. A limitation of previous studies addressing the inclusion or exclusion of somatic symptoms in the assessment of depressive symptoms is that they focused on domains of symptoms, that is, to include or exclude all somatic symptoms and all cognitive‐affective symptoms. By doing so, they overlooked the role of distinct depression symptoms as was recommended more recently, given the heterogeneity with in the somatic or cognitive/affective domain. Another limitation is