Overview

Used to measure the severity of depressive symptoms and, in contexts where the scale is clinically validated, screen for possible depression. The recall period is over the last two weeks. Items include both somatic (“feeling tired or having little energy”), emotional (“feeling down, depressed, or hopeless”), and behavioral (“moving or speaking so slowly that other people could have noticed. Or the opposite being so fidgety or restless that you move around a lot more than usual). Procedures should be in place to appropriately manage potential endorsements of suicidal thoughts.

Scoring and Interpretation

The score range of 0-27 is calculated by summing the responses to each individual item (0=X, 1 =X, etc.); Grades the severity of depressive symptoms as none (score of 0-4), mild (5-9), moderate (10-14) or moderately severe/severe (11-27).

Citation

Kroenke, Kurt, Robert L. Spitzer, and Janet B. W. Williams. 2001. “The PHQ-9: Validity of a Brief Depression Severity Measure.” Journal of General Internal Medicine 16(9): 606–13.

Contexts and Applications to Child Nutrition

Botswana

Motlhatlhedi, Keneilwe, Adewale B. Ganiyu, and Vincent Setlhare, Jacqueline A.Firth. 2017. "Association between Depression in Carers and Malnutrition in Children aged 6 months to 5 years." African Journal of Primary Health Care and Family Medicine 9 (1): 1-6.

Ethiopia

Woldetensay, Yitbarek Kidane, Tefera Belachew, Shibani Ghosh, Eva Johanna Kantelhardt, Hans Konrad Biesalski, and Veronika Scherbaum. 2021. "The Effect of Maternal Depressive Symptoms on Infant Feeding Practices in Rural Ethiopia: Community Based Birth Cohort Study." International Breastfeeding Journal 16(1): 1-15.

Kenya

Haithar, S., M. W. Kuria, A. Sheikh, M. Kumar, and A. Vander Stoep. 2018. "Maternal Depression and Child Severe Acute Malnutrition: A Case-Control Study From Kenya." BMC pediatrics 18 (1): 1-9.

Nepal

Adhikari, Ramesh Prasad, Ryoko Williamson, Thalia M. Sparling, Elaine Ferguson, and Kenda Cunningham. 2020. "Parental Depression and Nutrition: Findings From a Cross-Sectional Household Survey in Nepal." Public Health Nutrition 23(16): 2983-2993.

Peru

Alarcón‐Guevara, Samuel, Joshua Peñafiel‐Sam, Sergio Chang‐Cabanillas, and Reneé Pereyra‐Elías. 2021. "Maternal Depressive Symptoms Are Not Associated With Child Anaemia: A Cross‐Sectional Population Study in Peru, 2015." Child: Care, Health and Development 47(2): 228-242.

Sudan

Mohammedahmed, Arwa SA, Abubaker Emadeldin Adlan Koko, Ali M.E. Arabi, and Mohamed A. Ibrahim. 2020. "Maternal Depression, A Hidden Predictor for Severe Acute Malnutrition in Children Aged 6-59 Months: A Case-control Study at Omdurman Paediatrics Teaching Hospital, Sudan." Sudanese Journal of Paediatrics 20(2): 111-121.

Tanzania

Neamah, Hind H., Christopher Sudfeld, Dana Charles McCoy, Günther Fink, Wafaie W. Fawzi, Honorati Masanja, Goodarz Danaei, et al. 2018. "Intimate Partner Violence, Depression, and Child Growth and Development." Pediatrics 142(1):.

Adaptations

N/A

Formative Research

N/A