WHO COMES TO A VOLUNTARY DEPRESSION SCREENING-PROGRAM

Objective: The purpose of this study was to describe who comes to a vo luntary depression screening program by analyzing findings from the 19 92 National Depression Screening Day. Method: Survey results from 5,36 7 adult volunteers at 345 facilities were analyzed. The authors examin ed the prevalence of depression detected at the screening test and soc iodemographic characteristics and treatment history of the respondents . They also estimated the percentage of these individuals who would ac tually have a diagnosis of major depression (positive predictive value ). The main assessment measure was the Zung Self-Rating Depression Sca le. Results: Of all participants, 76.6% (N=4,109) had at least minimal depressive symptoms (score of at least 50 on the Zung depression scal e), 53.3% (N=2,859) had at least moderate symptoms (score of at least 60), and 22.6% (N=1,214) had severe symptoms (score of at least 70). F ew of the depressed respondents were currently in treatment for a ment al health problem. The positive predictive value of a screening test d iagnosis of depression was between 92.5% and 95.5% when a cutoff score of 60 was used to indicate depression and between 88.7% and 92.3% whe n a cutoff score of 50 was used. Conclusions: Voluntary screening test s, as exemplified by results from the National Depression Screening Da y, provide a good opportunity for identifying previously unidentified and untreated individuals with depression.