Depression Toolkit

These toolkits were developed for the Practicing Physician Education in Geriatrics project supported by a grant from the John A. Hartford Foundation through the American Geriatrics Society. The toolkits are intended to help physicians better understand the common 'Geriatric Syndromes' and contain educational materials, suggested guidelines, forms and tools for evaluation, diagnosis and treatment.

The Depression Toolkit is used for the initial evaluation of a patient with suspected depression and gathers information important to differential diagnosis. Depression screens used are the Geriatric Depression Scale and the PHQ-9. Educational materials for patient/family education discuss critical management concepts.

Click on the title of an individual tool for a short description and download options. Or download the the complete toolkit by clicking on the links in the right-hand column.

Individual Tools

= indicates new tool


Process	Professional Tools	Educational Materials

Identify	Depression Screen PDF DOC files	How Do I Know If I'm Depressed? PDF DOC files



Prepare	Patient Questionnaire: Depression PDF DOC files	Evaluation of Depression PDF DOC files

	PHQ-9 Nine System Checklist PDF DOC files	Treatment of Depression PDF DOC files

	Medical History PDF DOC files





Diagnose and Treat	Depression Evaluation: Initial Visit PDF DOC files	Mental Health Specialists and Depression PDF DOC files

	Geriatric Depression Scale PDF DOC files	Drug Treatment of Depression PDF DOC files

	PHQ-9 Flow Chart PDF DOC files	Taking Care of Yourself PDF DOC files



Diagnose, Treat, Educate		What If I Don't Fell Better? PDF DOC files

Download Training Materials:


	Training Materials (60 K)

	Contains the additional materials not used in evaluation / management. These training materials describe the toolkit's rationale and illustrate its use (through the Case Study) in depression evaluation.

Download All Tools:


	Adobe Acrobat PDF files (980 K)

	Microsoft Word files (76 K)

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	Adobe Acrobat Reader




	The toolkits are designed for use by medical professionals and are not recommended for use by lay persons looking to diagnose or manage a medical problem. However, if you are not a medical professional but are interested in the issues addressed in the toolkits, we encourage you to download the tools and discuss them with your doctor.