Thai Geriatric Depression Scales
Thai Geriatric Depression Scale-15 (TGDS-15)
Prof. Wongpakaran (Nahathai) was granted a permission from Prof. Yesavege, in 2007, to translate the 15-Item Geriatric Depression Scale or GDS-15 into Thai language and to test its psychometrics among Thai population. The TGDS-15 was developed by following the translation and cultural adaptation techniques. The back translation was done by a bilingual translator. The first article containing the early information of the TGDS-15 was published in 2012
The very first analysis among elderly Thais was done for its reliability and validity on 130 elderly people in the community; the test showed a good internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha was 0.85) and a three-factor structure with excellent model fit (comparative fit test = 0.95, root mean square error of approximation = 0.052). The recommended cut-off scores is similar to the English version which are 0-5 for No depression, 6-10 for suggestive, and 11-15 for depression.
The TGDS-15 has been widely used in Thailand. The users were recommended to use a cut-off scores of 5 or 6 for 'suggestive for depression'.
Thai Geriatric Depression Scale-6 (TGDS-6)
In 2019, Prof. Wongpakaran published a shorter version, TGDS-6. This version was promoted for its use in screening depression in the community, outpatient settings, or in any situation when a rapid screening is needed. This version was tested by three methods of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with multiple indicators, multiple cause model, Mokken analysis and Rasch. In terms of accuracy of the hierarchical scale of GDS in predicting depression against the gold standard clinical interview diagnosis, TGDS-6 provided AUCs of >0.8 denoting good accuracy performance. TGDS-6 yielded a sensitivity of 73.29 and specificity of 81.24%. The cut-off scores for depression was 2.
Download TGDS-15
Download TGDS-6
References
1. Wongpakaran N, Wongpakaran T. Prevalence of major depressive disorder and suicide in long-term care facilities: A report from northern Thailand. Psychogeriatrics. 2012;12(1):11-7.
2. Wongpakaran N, Wongpakaran T, van Reekum R. The use of GDS-15 in detecting MDD: A comparison between residents in a Thai long-term care home and geriatric outpatients. J Clin Med Res. 2013;5(2):101-111.
3. Wongpakaran N, Wongpakaran T, Kuntawong P. Evaluating hierarchical items of the Geriatric Depression Scale through factor analysis and Item response theory. Heliyon. 2019;5(8):e02300.
