Table 4

Importance of scales for assessing whether a patient has been cured of depression

Psychiatrists

GPs

Scale

Rank

Mean score

Rank

Mean score

SDS

1

4.23

1

4.13

PHQ-9

2

4.04

2

3.86

WHOQOL-BREF

3

3.86

3

3.84

PANAS-pos

4

3.79

4

3.72

HADS-A

5

3.34

5

3.22

PHQ-somatic

6

2.50

6

2.61

All physicians were asked to rank the importance of each item from 1 to 5, with 5 indicating greatest importance - the total mean score for all items from the scale was then calculated and used to rank the scales.

GP, general practitioner; HADS-A, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale-Anxiety subscale; PHQ-9, Patient Health Questionnaire-Depression Subscale; PHQ-somatic, Patient Health Questionnaire-Somatic Symptoms subscale; PANAS-pos, Positive And Negative Affect Schedule-Positive Affect subscale; SDS, Sheehan Disability Scale; WHOQOL-BREF, Abbreviated World Health Organization Quality of Life scale.

Demyttenaere et al. BMC Psychiatry 2011 11:169   doi:10.1186/1471-244X-11-169