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Substance Abuse and Older Adults (for Professionals)

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The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D)

For the 20 items below, circle the number next to each item that best reflects how frequently the indicated event was experienced in the past 7 days.

 

Rarely or none of the time (less than 1 day)

Some or a little of the time (1-2 days)

Occasionally or a moderate amount of time (3-4 days)

 Most or all of the time (5-7 days)

DURING THE PAST WEEK:

        
1. I was bothered by things that usually don’t bother me.

0

1

2

3
2. I did not feel like eating; my appetite was poor.

0

1

2

3
3. I felt that I could not shake off the blues even with help from my family or friends.

0

1

2

3
4. I felt that I was just as good as other people.

3

2

1

0
5. I had trouble keeping my mind on what I was doing.

0

1

2

3
6. I felt depressed.

0

1

2

3
7. I felt that everything I did was an effort.

0

1

2

3
8. I felt hopeful about the future.

3

2

1

0
9. I thought my life had been a failure.

0

1

2

3
10. I felt fearful.

0

1

2

3
11. My sleep was restless.

0

1

2

3
12. I was happy.

3

2

1

0
13. I talked less than usual.

0

1

2

3
14. I felt lonely.

0

1

2

3
15. People were unfriendly.

0

1

2

3
16. I enjoyed life.

3

2

1

0
17. I had crying spells.

0

1

2

3
18. I felt sad.

0

1

2

3
19. I felt that people disliked me.

0

1

2

3
20. I could not get "going."

0

1

2

3

Scoring: Since items 4, 8, 12, and 16 reflect positive experiences rather than negative ones, the scale should be reversed on these items so that 0 = 3, 1 = 2, 2 = 1, and 3 = 0. To determine the "depression score," add together the numbers for each answer. The score will be somewhere in the range of 0 to 60. A score of 16 or greater indicates that some depression may have been experienced in the past week.

Source: Radloff, L.S. The CES-D Scale: A self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Applied Psychological Measurement 1977, 1(3):385-401.

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