Development of the psychometric property of a Minimum Data-Set-Based Depression Rating Scale for use in long-term care facilities in Taiwan

Objectives: Our aim is to develop the psychometric property of the Minimum Data-Set-Based Depression Rating Scale (MDS-DRS) to ensure its use to assess service needs and guide care plans for institutionalized residents.

Methods: 378 residents were recruited from the Haoran Senior Citizen Home in northern Taiwan. The MDS-DRS and GDS-SF were used to identify observable features of depression symptoms in the elderly residents.

Results: A total of 378 residents participated in this study. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve indicated that the MDS-DRS has a 43.3% sensitivity and a 90.6% specificity when screening for depression symptoms. The total variance, explained by the two factors sadness and distress, was 58.1% based on the factor analysis.

Conclusions: Reliable assessment tools for nurses are important because they allow the early detection of depression symptoms. The MDS-DRS items perform as well as the GDS-SF items in detecting depression symptoms. Furthermore, the MDS-DRS has the advantage of providing information to staff about care process implementation, which can facilitate the identification of areas that need improvement. Further research is needed to validate the use of the MDS-DRS in long-term care facilities.