Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ)
Self-report questionnaires
Suitable for adults
English questionnaires
License fee: € 0,00 per completion
For whom is the Patient Health Questionnaire intended?
These self-report questionnaires are suitable for adults.
What does the PHQ measure?
The Patient Health Questionnaire is the most used screening questionnaire for mental health issues in primary care. It is also gaining increasing acceptance in secondary care. Because of its sensitivity to change, the PHQ is not only relevant for use in screening, but can also be applied for outcome monitoring. In essence, it captures the psychological and somatoform disorders with the highest prevalence. There are many different versions of the PHQ available:
- PHQ. The full version, which is the most complete measure of all different versions. In essence, it contains all of them as scales. The different subparts of the full PHQ and thus the different, more specialized versions of it, are outlined in the following.
- GAD-7. Generalized Anxiety Disorder – 7. This seven-item scale measures anxiety symptoms.
- PHQ-9. Patient Health Quesitonnaire – 9. This subscale, and standalone test, measures depressive symptoms. It has been validated as a standalone measure, and compared to for example the BDI.
- PHQ-15. Patient Health Questionnaire – 15. This 15-items scale asks for different forms of somatoform disorders. It has also been investigated as a standalone measure.
- Brief PHQ. This version is a more economical, shortened version of the overall PHQ.
- PHQ-SADS. This version contains only the somatic, anxiety and depression subscales of the full PHQ. That is, the PHQ-15, PHQ-9 and GAD-7.
What does the PHQ questionnaire consist of?
The different versions of the PHQ contain different amounts of items, the answer options also differ per scale.
How does the PHQ scoring work?
The psychometric properties of the different versions of the PHQ have been investigated in many different studies from a considerable research grant Pfizer Inc. The properties are in the range of good to excellent, concerning the different scales. Overall, it is a very good and economical instrument that has been proven effective in clinical use.
Source of the questionnaire
Löwe, B., Gräfe, K., Zipfel, S., Spitzer, R. L., Herrmann-Lingen, C., Witte, S., & Herzog, W. (2003). Detecting panic disorder in medical and psychosomatic outpatients: comparative validation of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the Patient Health Questionnaire, a screening question, and physicians’ diagnosis. Journal of psychosomatic research, 55(6), 515-519.
Löwe, B., Gräfe, K., Zipfel, S., Witte, S., Loerch, B., & Herzog, W. (2004). Diagnosing ICD-10 depressive episodes: superior criterion validity of the Patient Health Questionnaire. Psychotherapy and psychosomatics, 73(6), 386-390.
Löwe, B., Kroenke, K., Herzog, W., & Gräfe, K. (2004). Measuring depression outcome with a brief self-report instrument: sensitivity to change of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). Journal of affective disorders, 81(1), 61-66.
Löwe, B., Spitzer, R. L., Gräfe, K., Kroenke, K., Quenter, A., Zipfel, S., … & Herzog, W. (2004). Comparative validity of three screening questionnaires for DSM-IV depressive disorders and physicians’ diagnoses. Journal of affective disorders, 78(2), 131-140.
© Pfizer Inc., Löwe B, Spitzer RL, Zipfel S, Herzog W.,
