A Comparison of Depressive Symptom Self-Reported Measures in the Texas Youth Depression and Suicide Research Network (TX-YDSRN).

Objective: To evaluate psychometrically and provide crosswalks between 3 self-report measures of depressive symptomatology in youth in psychiatric care settings. Ratings included the Patient Health Questionnaire for Adolescents (PHQ-A), a widely used 9-item self-report; the 16-item Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology-Self-Report (QIDS-SR ₁₆ ); and the 5-item Very Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology-Self-Report (VQIDS-SR ₅ ), a recent effort to create a bridge from the QIDS-SR ₁₆ to clinical practice.
Methods: Data from the Texas Youth Depression and Suicide Research Network Registry (August 26, 2020-May 11, 2022) were included in this work. At first visit, 795 depressed or suicidal adolescent (12-20 years of age) psychiatric outpatients completed the PHQ-A, QIDS-SR ₁₆ , and VQIDS-SR ₅ . Classical test theory and item-response theory (IRT) analyses were conducted. Crosswalks among total scales were created. Sensitivity to change over 1-month follow-up was assessed for all 3 scales (n = 682).
Results: Cronbach alphas were 0.86 (PHQ-A), 0.80 (QIDS-SR ₁₆ ), and 0.76 (VQIDS-SR ₅ ). Item total correlations were 0.49-0.72, 0.29-0.64, and 0.43-0.61, respectively. All 3 scales were unidimensional and sensitive to change over a 1-month period. IRT analyses revealed satisfactory item performance. Modest but significant associations were found between baseline to 1-month changes in PHQ-A and VQIDS-SR ₅ total scores ( r  = 0.50, P  < .0001) and between PHQ-A and QIDS-SR ₁₆ total scores ( r  = 0.56; P  < .0001). Categorical thresholds of severity (ie, mild, moderate, severe, and very severe) were comparable between PHQ-A and QIDS-SR ₁₆ .
Conclusions: The PHQ-A, QIDS-SR ₁₆ , and VQIDS-SR ₅ are unidimensional, psychometrically acceptable self-reports of depressive prevalence or severity in adolescents and young adults in this sample. Total scale scores on any measure can be converted reliably to those on any other.
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