GDS-15: older-adult depression screening score

Overview

The GDS-15 is a 15-item older-adult depression screen with yes-or-no answers about the past week. Survey Doctor applies the published key and returns a 0-to-15 total. Its four displayed ranges describe keyed symptom counts, not diagnoses. A low result cannot make low mood a normal part of aging or rule out care.

Introduction

Sheikh and Yesavage published the 15-item short form in 1986. The Stanford author page identifies it as a screening measure for depression in older adults.

The questions focus mainly on mood, interest, outlook, energy, and memory concerns. They avoid many physical symptoms that can overlap with medical illness, but the remaining answers still cannot establish a cause.

Depression is not normal aging. Grief, health problems, medication, life changes, and depression can overlap, so a fuller assessment matters when mood or functioning changes.

Who should take this assessment?

A healthcare provider may use the GDS-15 when an older adult reports changes in mood or interest. It can also provide a structured starting point when someone is concerned but unsure how to describe the change.

Consider discussing your symptoms with a provider if you notice:

• Less enjoyment or interest
• Persistent sadness or emptiness
• Hopelessness or helplessness
• Withdrawal from usual activities
• Changes in energy or outlook

You can ask for help at any score. A screening result should never decide that care is unnecessary.

Score interpretation

Each depressive answer adds one point. Five positively worded items use the opposite yes-or-no key. Survey Doctor applies that key and returns one total from 0 to 15.

Survey Doctor currently displays these ranges:

The labels describe score ranges, not diagnoses, treatment instructions, or proof that someone does or does not have depression. Nothing more.

The follow-up boundary is not settled

The Stanford author guidance says scores higher than 5 warrant an interview. A Hartford Institute form prints a 5-to-8 range but also describes scores above 5 as positive. Survey Doctor starts its next displayed range at 5.

That disagreement matters at the boundary. Do not treat a score of 4, 5, or 6 as a clinical verdict. Symptoms, daily functioning, health history, and the reason for screening matter more than a one-point difference.

Survey Doctor returns one total

The current GDS-15 scorer returns a single 0-to-15 total and does not calculate separate positive-mood or depressed-mood subscale results. One number.

The questions cover different themes, but those themes are not separate product scores. Reports should not promise subscale values that the assessment does not produce.

Survey Doctor requires all 15 answers

The Stanford guidance describes prorating when a few items are missed. Survey Doctor does not use that method. It requires all 15 answers and adds the keyed values without proration.

Calculation methods differ. Do not compare an author-prorated score with a native Survey Doctor score without recording how each total was produced.

Safety limits

The GDS-15 does not directly ask about suicide or self-harm, and its questions about outlook and hopelessness are not validated suicide indicators or automatic safety results.

If you are thinking about suicide or self-harm, get support based on those thoughts, whatever your GDS-15 total is. The score cannot help there.

If you need help now. In the US, Call 988 or text 988. Call 911 if you are in immediate danger. Outside the US, contact your local emergency number or find support in your country.

A direct safety assessment is needed when those thoughts are present. This questionnaire cannot replace one.

What the questions ask about

The 15 questions cover experiences such as:

• Satisfaction and enjoyment
• Dropping activities or interests
• Feeling empty, bored, helpless, or hopeless
• Preferring to stay home
• Energy and outlook
• Memory concerns

These are themes within one questionnaire, not separate scores. The GDS-15 also leaves out many physical symptoms, so the result is only one part of an assessment.

Administration

The GDS-15 asks about the past week. The person taking it should answer based on that period rather than on one good or difficult day.

No single repeat schedule fits every person or care setting. A provider may repeat the questionnaire when another total would answer a useful question. A repeat score should not delay a conversation about current symptoms.

Using scores over time

A later lower total means that fewer answers matched the depression key on that occasion. A higher total means that more answers matched it. That is all the change proves.

The GDS-15 does not have a verified universal two-point rule for meaningful change. A difference between two totals does not prove that treatment worked or failed. Use the pattern alongside the person's own account and clinical assessment.

When to seek help

Talk with a healthcare provider when mood, interest, functioning, or quality of life has changed. Do this even if the total falls in the lowest range.

A fuller assessment can look at:

• How long the symptoms have lasted
• Whether daily activities have changed
• Grief and recent life events
• Physical health and medication
• Memory or thinking changes
• Any direct safety concerns

The score alone cannot select therapy, medication, or another treatment. It also should not be used as a reason to stop existing care.

For a plain-language walkthrough, see what your GDS-15 score means.

Important considerations

The GDS-15 screens for depressive symptoms. It does not diagnose a depressive disorder or distinguish depression from every other cause of low mood.

The yes-or-no format cannot show small differences in how often or how strongly someone feels a symptom. The questionnaire also does not directly measure functional impact.

A low score does not overrule the person's experience. A high score is a reason for more questions, not a treatment plan.

Related assessments

Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9): A general adult depression screening questionnaire.

Geriatric Depression Scale 30-item (GDS-30): The longer form in the same questionnaire family.

Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia: A separate assessment that includes information from an observer.