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Screening for Depression by the Nursing Staff in an Acute Psychogeriatric Unit
Author(s) -
Akoo Shiraz,
Shah Ajit
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
australasian journal on ageing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.63
H-Index - 34
eISSN - 1741-6612
pISSN - 1440-6381
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-6612.1998.tb00039.x
Subject(s) - depression (economics) , geriatric depression scale , medicine , nursing homes , depressive symptoms , nursing , geriatric psychiatry , gerontological nursing , psychiatry , scale (ratio) , anxiety , economics , macroeconomics , physics , quantum mechanics
Objective: The early identification of depression in the elderly. Method: The performance of the Depressive Signs Scale (DSS), completed by the nursing staff, in detecting depression among acutely ill psychogeriatric inpatients was prospectively examined. Results: A cut‐off score of 4/5 gave the best sensitivity and specificity in detecting depression. Conclusion: The performance of this scale should be evaluated in other settings such as geriatric wards and nursing homes.