Self-administered depression screening tool compared to structured clinical interviews: Implications for practice and research

Background and objective: Nurses are at a higher risk for depression compared to the general public, thus requiring regular screening for depression. It remains unclear if a self-assessment screening tool may be recommended. The objective of this study was to compare a self-administered screening tool versus a clinician-guided interview.
Methods: Twenty-five nurses completed BDI-II and the SCID-5-RV. We used descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation for analyses.
Results: BDI-II identified 44% as screening positive for depression, and SCID-5-RV identified 40.0%.
Conclusions: Self-administered tools like BDI-II may be cost-effective for screening, while clinical interviews remain the diagnostic gold standard. Future research should focus on improving screening accuracy.