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Quick 15-item mood and outlook check for older adults over the past week.

  • Answer each yes-or-no item for the same recent week.
  • Use the finished score as a screening snapshot rather than a diagnosis.
  • Your responses stay in this browser unless you choose to export them.
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Share result

Share this result page with someone you trust to review your answers and result.

Threshold lane
What this result suggests

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When to seek support

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Cutoff and boundary context
Cutoff and boundary context

The original Stanford scoring note uses >5 and >10 wording. These rows keep scores of 5 and 10 explicit so the summary does not overstate what the rubric says.

Score Read it as Meaning Copy
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Higher-scored items and retained anchors

The “Top area” card uses local follow-up clusters to organize the 15 items into readable themes. Those clusters are app-specific reading aids, not official GDS-15 subscales.

Higher-scored items
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Retained anchors
  • Every item was scored in the depressive direction on this run.
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Answer review
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Tags: Diagnostics, Psychology, Psychometrics
Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) Assessment Score a PHQ-9 depression screener, see the 0 to 27 severity band, and review Item 9, function impact, symptom drivers, and follow-up cues.
Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21) Assessment Complete a DASS-21 past-week symptom screen with doubled subscale bands, item pressure cues, cutoff context, and follow-up notes.
SHAS-A Adult Health Anxiety Proxy Assessment Assess adult health-anxiety patterns with a disclosed 14-item proxy, then review the 0-42 score, cutoff context, top area, and cue table.
Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) Score 21 BDI-II depression-symptom answers over two weeks, see severity bands, Item 9 safety context, driver items, and answer-review exports.
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Late-life depression is often easier to miss than younger-adult depression because sadness is not always the most obvious clue. An older adult may describe boredom, lost interest, staying home, low energy, memory worry, or feeling that life has narrowed. Those signs can overlap with pain, grief, poor sleep, medication effects, recent illness, loneliness, or dementia, so a short score should be treated as a prompt for better questions rather than as a diagnosis.

The Geriatric Depression Scale was created for older-adult depression screening. The 15-item short form asks yes-or-no questions about the past week and avoids many body-symptom items that can be hard to interpret in later life. Fatigue, appetite change, and sleep disruption may come from medical conditions as well as depression, while the GDS-15 concentrates on mood, outlook, interest, helplessness, and self-worth.

Past-week window
Every answer should describe the same recent week, not a single difficult moment or a long lifetime pattern.
Keyed answer
The yes or no response that adds 1 point because it points in the depressive direction.
Cutoff
A score line used to decide whether the result deserves fuller follow-up.
Follow-up interview
A broader clinical conversation that checks symptoms, safety, medical causes, function, and recent changes.
GDS-15 flow from 15 past-week yes-or-no items through keyed scoring to a 0 to 15 total and explicit score bands.

Keyed scoring matters because yes is not always the concerning answer. Most GDS-15 items add a point when answered yes, but several positive-outlook items add a point when answered no. That design helps separate retained strengths, such as feeling satisfied or energetic, from signs that deserve closer review.

Depression is not a normal part of aging, and it is often treatable. A higher GDS-15 score can help a person, caregiver, or clinician move from vague concern to a structured conversation about mood, function, support, and safety. A low score can be reassuring, but it should not override obvious changes in daily activity, independence, sleep, appetite, or social connection.

The GDS-15 is not a suicide-risk assessment. Hopelessness, worthlessness, self-harm thoughts, sudden severe decline, or immediate safety concerns need direct human support rather than repeated questionnaire checking.

How to Use This Tool:

Answer the 15 items against the same past-week window. The result appears only after every item has a yes or no response.

  1. Select Start Assessment. The progress bar and question navigator show the active item and the answered count.
  2. Choose Yes or No for each question. The navigator marks completed items and lets you return to an earlier answer before finishing.
  3. When all 15 answers are complete, read the Threshold snapshot for the total score out of 15 and the current overall lane.
  4. Check the overview cards for Overall lane, Top area, Cutoff context, High-intensity items, and Retained anchor.
  5. Use Cutoff and boundary context before reading the score label. Scores of 5 and 10 are kept separate because the original scoring note uses >5 and >10 wording.
  6. Review Higher-scored items, Retained anchors, and the Answer review table to see which answers created the total.
  7. Copy the result link or export the answer table only when you are comfortable sharing sensitive mood answers with the intended person.

Interpreting Results:

Start with the total score, then read the item pattern. The total gives the screening direction, while the higher-scored items show which daily-life concerns are driving that direction.

  • 0 to 4: Below the main follow-up lines. Recheck if mood, activity, or function changes even when the current score is low.
  • 5: Boundary score. Some secondary guides treat 5 as possible depression, while the original Stanford wording starts follow-up above 5.
  • 6 to 9: Above the original >5 follow-up line and below the upper boundary.
  • 10: Upper boundary score. The cutoff context keeps 10 separate because the original strong-positive wording starts above 10.
  • 11 to 15: Above the original >10 line and a reason to arrange fuller follow-up rather than only repeating the screen.

The Top area card groups answers into local follow-up themes such as mood and outlook, activity and engagement, worry and helplessness, memory confidence, self-worth, and positive outlook. These themes help organize a conversation; they are not official GDS-15 subscales.

Do not let one number create false confidence. A high score is not a diagnosis, and a low score does not rule out depression, medical causes, grief, loneliness, cognitive change, or safety concerns. Use the Answer review table to check whether the answers match the real week before sharing or acting on the result.

Technical Details:

The GDS-15 is a scored screening scale. Each item is binary, each completed item contributes either 0 or 1 point, and the total range is 0 to 15. Higher totals mean more answers were keyed in the depressive direction.

The short form was derived from the longer Geriatric Depression Scale to reduce burden while preserving a focused older-adult depression screen. Its yes-or-no format can be self-rated or read aloud, which is useful when fatigue, vision difficulty, physical illness, or mild to moderate cognitive impairment makes longer questionnaires harder to complete.

Formula Core

Total = ∑ i=1 15 si si = 1 when item i is answered in the keyed direction, otherwise 0

A yes answer scores 1 point on ten negatively framed items. A no answer scores 1 point on five positive-outlook items. For example, yes to "Have you dropped many of your activities and interests?" adds a point, while no to "Are you basically satisfied with your life?" also adds a point.

Answer that scores 1 point Question numbers What the keyed answer signals
Yes 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 15 Dropped activities, emptiness, boredom, fear, helplessness, staying home, memory worry, worthlessness, hopelessness, or discouraging comparison.
No 1, 5, 7, 11, 13 Reduced satisfaction, poorer spirits, less happiness, less sense that life is worthwhile, or lower energy.

Boundary operators matter. Stanford's short-form scoring page uses >5 for suggestive follow-up and >10 for almost-always depression wording. Other clinical handouts may group score 5 or score 10 differently, so the cutoff context keeps those exact boundary scores visible instead of hiding them inside broad severity labels.

Score range Reading used here Boundary note
0 to 4 Below follow-up line Below score 5 and below the original >5 follow-up wording.
5 Boundary score Exactly 5 is shown separately because some guides include it while the original wording says above 5.
6 to 9 Above original >5 line Above the follow-up line and below the 10-point edge.
10 Upper follow-up edge Still not above the original >10 strong-positive wording.
11 to 15 Above original >10 line Above the line described by the Stanford scoring note as almost always depression.

The local follow-up themes are a reading aid built from the item content. They help identify whether the current score is mostly driven by lost positive outlook, withdrawal, worry, helplessness, memory confidence, or self-worth. They should not be reported as validated subscale scores.

Local theme Items Use in follow-up
Positive outlook 1, 5, 7, 11, 13 Review satisfaction, spirits, happiness, aliveness, and energy.
Mood and outlook 3, 4, 14, 15 Review emptiness, boredom, hopelessness, and comparison with others.
Activity and engagement 2, 9 Review dropped interests, staying home, and reduced participation.
Worry and helplessness 6, 8 Review fear, helplessness, and whether support feels available.
Memory confidence and self-worth 10, 12 Review memory concern and worthlessness as specific follow-up topics.

Limitations and Privacy Notes:

The GDS-15 is a screening aid, not a diagnostic interview. It cannot determine the cause of symptoms, choose treatment, assess suicide risk, diagnose cognitive impairment, or separate depression from grief, pain, medical illness, medication effects, or social isolation on its own.

  • Use repeat scores only when each run used the full 15-item GDS-15 and the same past-week response window.
  • Treat the local themes as conversation prompts, not official GDS-15 subscales.
  • Scoring happens in the browser, but result links and exports can reveal sensitive mood answers.
  • If self-harm thoughts, immediate danger, or sudden severe decline is present, seek urgent professional or emergency help instead of relying on a questionnaire result.

Worked Examples:

Low total with a specific concern

A person answers in the keyed direction on items 2, 4, 10, and 12. The Threshold snapshot shows 4/15 and the Overall lane is below the follow-up line. The low total is reassuring only as a broad screen; item 12 still makes low self-worth worth discussing directly.

Boundary score with withdrawal

A result of 5/15 appears with Cutoff context set to the 5 boundary. If the higher-scored items include dropped activities, boredom, fear, staying home, and memory worry, the useful reading is boundary score plus a withdrawal pattern, not a confirmed diagnosis.

Higher score needing fuller follow-up

A score of 11/15 puts the Overall lane above the strong-positive line and the Cutoff context above >10. The Higher-scored items list should be brought into a clinical conversation so follow-up starts with exact answers rather than only the total.

No threshold snapshot appears

If the result is missing, at least one item still has no answer. Use the question navigator and progress count to find the pending item, choose yes or no, and then review the total, cutoff context, threshold lane chart, and answer table.

FAQ:

Is a high GDS-15 score a diagnosis of depression?

No. A high score supports fuller clinical review, but diagnosis still depends on a broader interview, medical context, duration, function, and safety assessment.

Why are scores 5 and 10 shown separately?

The original Stanford scoring note uses >5 and >10 wording. Keeping 5 and 10 separate prevents those exact boundary scores from being overstated.

Which answers add points?

Yes scores 1 point on items 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, and 15. No scores 1 point on items 1, 5, 7, 11, and 13.

Why does the Top area not match an official subscale?

The Top area groups item content for easier follow-up, but the validated GDS-15 result is the total score. Treat the local theme as a conversation aid.

Why do I not see the result yet?

The threshold snapshot appears only after all 15 questions have a yes or no answer. Check the progress count or question navigator for a pending item.

Can I share the result link safely?

Only share it with someone you intend to see the answers. The result link can carry the response pattern, and exports can include sensitive mood details.

What if hopelessness or self-harm thoughts feel urgent?

Do not wait for a score. If there is immediate danger, self-harm thought, or sudden severe decline, seek urgent professional, emergency, or crisis support.

Glossary:

GDS-15
The 15-item short form of the Geriatric Depression Scale, used as a brief older-adult depression screen.
Keyed answer
The yes or no response that adds 1 point because it is scored in the depressive direction.
Reverse-keyed item
A positive-outlook item where a no answer adds the point.
Cutoff context
The boundary reading that keeps scores of 5 and 10 explicit.
Higher-scored item
An item answered in the keyed direction on the current run.
Retained anchor
An item that did not score in the depressive direction.
Local follow-up theme
A practical grouping of item content used to guide discussion, not an official subscale.

References: