{{ summaryTitle }}
{{ summaryValue }}
{{ summaryLine }}
{{ badge.label }}

Before you begin

Answer the 15 original English GDS short-form questions for how you have felt over the past week. This screen can flag a need for a follow-up interview; it cannot diagnose depression or explain its cause.

Privacy: {{ assessmentMemoryDisclosure }} {{ assessmentDefinition.privacy.disclosure }}
This changes only the presentation order of the answer ledger; it never changes scoring.
Score contribution is optional scoring detail for informed review, not a separate result or recommendation.
{{ progressPercent }}%
{{ progressLabel }}
{{ currentQuestion.text }}

Use the same past-week frame for every item. Choose the response that fits best.

Safety and support
  • {{ action.label }}

This shared result is read-only. Start a new session to record different answers.

What this means

{{ interpretationArtifact ? interpretationArtifact.lead : 'No interpretation is available for this result.' }}

What to do next

{{ Array.isArray(interpretationArtifact && interpretationArtifact.points) && interpretationArtifact.points.length ? interpretationArtifact.points[0] : 'Review this result in context and use the stated limits before acting.' }}

  • {{ point }}

{{ interpretationArtifact ? interpretationArtifact.uncertainty : 'This result is informational and should be interpreted within the assessment scope.' }}

Understand your scoreSee the canonical score in its declared range

{{ scorePositionArtifact.summary }}

Loading score-position chart…

{{ assessmentChartStatus }}
Review your answersCheck the responses behind this result
ItemPromptAnswerCopy
{{ row.label }}{{ row.prompt }}{{ row.answer }}

No answer rows are available for this result.

Save or shareOptional handoffs for this completed result
Share result

The link contains your responses in its URL. It is portable, not encrypted; share it only with someone you trust.

This link includes: {{ assessmentSharedFieldLabels.join(', ') }}.

Include this completed result in a copied link?

{{ assessmentDefinition.privacy.disclosure }}

{{ shareResultStatus }}
Score chart
Answer review
Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) Assessment Score the nine PHQ-9 symptoms, keep functional impact separate, and flag any Item 9 response for direct follow-up regardless of the total.
Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21) Assessment Complete the DASS-21 for the past week and review doubled Depression, Anxiety, and Stress scores with exact severity bands and safety context.
Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D-20) Check past-week depressive symptom frequency with the 20-item CES-D and review reverse scoring, the 16-point line, and private answer review.
Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10) Assessment Measure distress frequency over the past four weeks with K10, compare two published band guides, and review the complete response pattern.

Depression is not an inevitable part of getting older. In later life it may be overlooked when low energy, reduced activity, sleep changes, memory complaints, illness, grief, pain, medication effects, or social isolation are blamed on age alone. Sadness may not be the most obvious concern; loss of interest, helplessness, worthlessness, and hopelessness can be equally important.

The 15-item short form of the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15) is a Yes/No questionnaire for older adults. It asks about the past week and counts answers keyed in a depression-related direction. The short response format can reduce burden, but it also compresses experience into broad choices, so the total must be read alongside the person’s words, health, functioning, and circumstances.

Response area Context worth checking
Activities and staying homeMobility, transport, pain, caregiving, bereavement, and available social contact
Energy and memoryMedical conditions, medication effects, sleep, sensory loss, delirium, and cognitive change
Worthlessness and hopelessnessCurrent safety, recent losses, support, and the need for direct conversation

GDS-15 is a screening aid, not a diagnostic interview. A result above a follow-up threshold indicates that a fuller assessment is warranted; it does not establish a depressive disorder or identify the cause of the answers. Conversely, a lower total cannot dismiss persistent concern, a marked change in daily life, or information that falls outside the questionnaire.

Worthlessness and hopelessness receive separate attention because they deserve a direct response even when the total remains low. GDS-15 does not ask about suicidal thoughts or intent, so it cannot rule out suicide risk. If someone is thinking about self-harm, has an immediate plan, or cannot stay safe, contact local emergency or crisis support now.

The most useful result is therefore not a label about the person. It is a structured past-week signal that can support a respectful follow-up interview, medical review, and discussion of changes in mood and daily functioning.

How to Use This Tool:

Answer all 15 questions for the same past week, using the person’s own experience rather than what others think the answer should be.

  1. Begin the assessment in a setting where the respondent can answer privately and ask for clarification if reading, vision, hearing, or language creates a barrier.
  2. Choose Yes or No for each question. Do not assume that every Yes answer adds a point; several positively worded items are keyed in the opposite direction.
  3. Complete all 15 items, then read the GDS-15 total and the follow-up message. If a result is unavailable, return to the unanswered question.
  4. Review the worthlessness and hopelessness responses before relying on the aggregate result, and use Answer review to prepare a fuller conversation.

Interpreting Results:

The GDS-15 total counts depression-keyed answers from 0 to 15. Higher totals mean that more responses matched the keyed direction during the past week. The result does not measure symptom intensity within a Yes/No answer and does not show whether illness, grief, medication, isolation, or another factor contributed.

  • 0 to 5 — Below follow-up threshold: keep concerns and changes in functioning in view; a low total is not proof that depression or safety concerns are absent.
  • 6 to 10 — Follow-up suggested: the source rule is strictly greater than 5, so 6 is the first score that warrants a follow-up interview.
  • 11 to 15 — Strong positive signal: the source rule is strictly greater than 10, so 11 is the first score in this range and supports prompt clinical follow-up.

A Yes to worthlessness or hopelessness triggers support guidance independently of these bands. Compare repeated totals only when the same English form, past-week frame, and administration conditions are retained, and examine which answers changed.

Technical Details:

Each GDS-15 item contributes either 0 or 1 point. The keyed direction depends on the wording: a No response adds a point on five positively worded items, while a Yes response adds a point on the other ten items. This aligns all contributions so larger totals represent more depression-related responses.

Transformation Core

Items Response worth 1 point Response worth 0 points
1, 5, 7, 11, and 13NoYes
2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, and 15YesNo

Formula Core

The total adds the 15 binary keyed scores with equal weight.

G= ∑ i=1 15 si where si ∈ {0,1}

G is the GDS-15 total and si is the keyed score for item i. All 15 answers are required. The result is an integer from 0 to 15 with no weighting, averaging, prorating, or rounding.

Rule Core

Exact condition Displayed result
G ≤ 5Below follow-up threshold
5 < G ≤ 10Follow-up suggested
G > 10Strong positive signal

A Yes response to item 12 on worthlessness or item 14 on hopelessness activates the separate support rule without changing G. This priority rule is a prompt for direct follow-up, not a substitute for a suicide-risk assessment.

Safety, Limits, and Privacy:

GDS-15 cannot diagnose depression, select treatment, distinguish depression from medical or cognitive causes, or clear someone of immediate risk. A fuller evaluation may need medical history, medication review, functional assessment, cognitive information, and a direct safety conversation.

  • Ordinary answers stay in the current browser session and are not added to the URL automatically.
  • A copied link contains all 15 raw Yes/No responses in an encoded URL fragment. It is not encrypted, so share it only with a trusted recipient.
  • Restarting clears the in-memory response session and removes the shared fragment.
  • Use urgent local help for self-harm thoughts or an inability to stay safe, regardless of the total or the worthlessness and hopelessness responses.

References: