SCREENING FOR MAJOR DEPRESSIVE DISORDERS IN ADOLESCENT PSYCHIATRIC INPATIENTS WITH THE MOOD MODULES FROM THE PRIMARY CARE EVALUATION OF MENTAL DISORDERS AND THE PATIENT HEALTH QUESTIONNAIRE

Szrmmarv.-The mood modules from the Primary Care Evaluation of Mental Disorders (PRIME-MD) and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) were administered to 17 (52%) female and 16 (48%) male adolescent (13-17 years old) psychiatric inpatients. The internal consistencies of both were good (KR-20 for PRIME-MD=.80, Cronbach coefficient a for Patient Health Questionnaire= 35). The correlation between the PRIME-MD and Patient Health Questionnaire total scores was .87 (p< 001 and the point-biserial correlation of both questionnaires' total scores with being tl~.~~nosed with a Major Depressive Disorder was .54 (p<.001). Both mood modules appefired to be equally effective in screening for a Major Depressive Disorder. A Major Depressive Disorder, either single or recurrent episode, is a mood disorder that is frequently Aagnosed in adolescents (13-17 years old) (American Psychiatric Association, 1994), and adolescents who are so diagnosed have increased risks for attempting suicide and developing comorbid psychiatric disorders, such as alcohol or substance abuse Asorders (Petersen, Compas, Brooks-Gunn, & Stemmler, 1993). Therefore, it is extremely important to screen adolescents who are admitted to a psychiatric inpatient unit for these Asorders. The present pilot-study compared how accurately the mood modules from the Primary Care Evaluation of Mental Disorders (PRIME-MD; Spitzer, Wdiams, Kroenke, Linzer, deGruy, Hahn, & Brody, 1995) and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ; Spitzer, Kroenke, & Wdliams, 1999) were able to classify adolescent psychiatric inpatients who were and were not diagnosed with a Major Depressive Disorder according to their medical charts. The Patient Health Questionnaire is a recently developed self-report instrument that was derived from the chically administered PRIME-MD.