Hello, I'm trying to use CES-D (for depression), GAD (for anxiety), and PSS (for stress) in the same survey, but they ask about different timeframes (in the past two weeks, one week, or month) in instructions, should I unify them or should I keep them as they are?
Thank you very much,
It's perfectly fine to include all three scales in the same survey as long as the instructions have been provided to the respondent for each of the scales. Moreover, you could arrange your survey in such a manner that the one that has the longest time frame (in the past one month) is answered first and then followed by those that are more recent (two weeks, one week) so that there is some logical consistency.
I think you have too many scales measuring the same or similar constructs and too much redundancy because of that. It is unethical to expose participants to unnecessary questions. Just one scale to capture essentials of Dep, Anx, and Stress would normally be sufficient. Each is asking about point prevalence, but this is defined differently in each scale. I would review your scale selection and find one, or at most two, measures with similar point prevalence definitions, and with less overlap. This choice also depends on your purposes and the importance of those constructs in your hypotheses. It is not about seeming logical by administering the scales in order of last month, last 2 weeks, etc. That is a superficial view of this problem, even though it is better for the participant to be asked that way. Even better is not asking redundant questions, as that will turn off participants and encourage them to disengage mentally from all similar questions.
Thank you for the comment! Very enlightening! Yes upon an intital review, we realized we had too many questions there too! We are working to reduce them -- plan to use one question for stress instead of PSS, use PHQ-2 for depression so it's only two questions now. However, the shortest measure we could find for anxiety is GAD.
We want to know participant' mental health, and anxiety and depression are two very different conditions -- though they moderately correlated.
There are a lot of validated measures of Anx and Dep you seem to have not considered. Look at the work by Ron Kessler and colleagues, on the K10. This may in fact be the construct you seek to measure (distress). Also the DASS, and alternative but briefer measures of depression, such as the Beck and Hamilton scales. I don't agree that anxiety and depression are different conditions that just happen to be correlated. Anx symptoms can lead to and then characterise forms of depression. and depression without anxiety seems to be a different form of depression to more common forms. Anx is also high with substance abuse, avoidance patterns, panic disorder, and PTS types of disorders, and even with eating disorders. I suggest you clarify what you are trying to achieve before you choose measures and make assumptions about the nature of the relationships among these diagnostic labels. The nosology and pathogenesis of these disorders is complex and still subject to much debate. You might need to read a little deeper on anx-dep theoretical structures and relationships to other mental health disorders. DSM 4 and 5 would be a good place to start. Good luck. Geoff
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