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Mental Health Case Study

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Reliability The reliability of this instrument was exceptional. The PHQ-9 scored a 0.89 Cronbach’s Alpha within the Primary care setting and a Cronbach’s Alpha of 0.86 in the Obstetrics and Gynecology setting. To test reliability a test-retest was done using follow up phone interviews with a Mental Health professional in a trial of 580 patients. This test was performed within 48 hours of the original PHQ-9. The Cronbach’s Aplha was 0.84 for the test-retest. The means score for the clinic samples was 5.08 and 5.03 for the telephone interviews. The reliability appears to be great for this instrument and has similar results in different settings. Validity The validity of the PHQ-9 instrument appeared to be great. Out of the 41 patients…show more content…
Asking an individual with cognitive impairments like Dementia or Alzheimer’s does not make for reliability. I have used this instrument within that population and at times the answers given by the patient are disorganized or no answer is given. In this case another instrument called PHQ-9(OV) is used. That instrument uses staff members who work closely with the resident to answer the questions if the resident appears depressed. Cross-Cultural Skills There are two questions on the PHQ-9 that I feel particularly do not work across all cultures and does not take into account possible triggers for the individual. Question 6 on the PHQ-9 (1999), “ Feeling bad about yourself-or that you are a failure or have let yourself or family down” is not appropriate for cognitively impaired individuals. Dementia is a difficult disease for both the individual and their family. I feel that asking this question for someone with Dementia that is in a facility is upsetting and cause behaviors within the person. Many times when I ask a resident with dementia this question they begin to get upset and tearful. It causes them to feel emotions in regards to missing their families and it causes the interview to take longer because the social worker needs to be empathetic to the patient. When asking patients in a long term care facility this question it triggers negative responses. Most people in a long term care facility wish to be home with their families. I feel that it makes
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