The Brief Edinburgh Depression Scale (BEDS)

Background:

Depression and reduced quality of life have long been recognized as serious problems in the later stages of cancer. These mood states are commonly infered from physical symptoms such as weight loss, loss of appetite, or/and sleep disturbance. However, subjective measures are often ignored. The Brief Edinburgh Depression Scale (BEDS) aims to address this limitation by instead ignoring somatic symptoms, focusing only on subjective feelings of worth and sadness et alia. In its brief form the BEDS also has the advantage of being quick and easy to use which is an important consideration when dealing with terminally ill patients.

Psychometrics:

The psychometric properties of the Brief Edinburgh Depression Scale (BEDS) are discussed in Lloyd-Williams, Shiels, & Dowrick (2007).

Author of Tool:

Lloyd-Williams, M., Shiels, C., Dowrick, C.

Key references:

Lloyd-Williams, M., Shiels, C., Dowrick, C. (2007). The development of the Brief Edinburgh Depression Scale (BEDS) to screen for depression in patients with advanced cancer. Journal of Affective Disorders, 99(1-3), 259-264.

Primary use / Purpose:

The Brief Edinburgh Depression Scale (BEDS) is a 6-item inventory rated on a 4 point Likert-type scale. Its purpose is to briefly and accurately measure depression in those in the advanced stages of cancer.

The development of the Brief Edinburgh Depression Scale (BEDS) to screen for depression in patients with advanced cancer.  Journal of Affective Disorders, Volume 99, Issue 1-3, Pages 259-264 M. Lloyd-Williams, C. Shiels, C. Dowrick

 

BRIEF EDINBURGH DEPRESSION SCALE 

Name

Please UNDERLINE the answer which comes closes to how you have felt IN THE PAST 7 DAYS, not just how you feel today

 

I have blamed myself unnecessarily when things went wrong:-

Yes, most of the time (3)

Yes, some of the time (2)

Not very often (1)

No, never (0)

 

 

I get a sort of frightened feeling as if something awful is about to happen

Very definitely and quite badly (3)

Yes, but not too badly(2)

A little, but it doesn’t worry me (1)

Not at all (0)

 

Things have been getting on top of me

Most of the time and I haven’t been able to cope at all (3)

Yes, sometimes I haven’t been coping as well as usual (2)

No, most of the time I have coped quite well(1)

No, I have been coping as well as ever (0)

 

 

I have been so unhappy that I have had difficulty sleeping

Yes, most of the time (3)

Yes, quite often (2)

Not very often (1)

No, not at all (0)

 

I have felt sad or miserable

Yes most of the time (3)

Yes, quite often (2)

Not very often (1)

No, not at all (0)

 

 

The thought of harming myself has occurred to me

Yes, quite often (3)

Sometimes (2)

Hardly ever (1)

Never(0)

Copyright Lloyd-Williams et al 2006 – can only be used with authors consent.

Score of 6/18 is indicative of depression.

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