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Patient Health Questionnaire - 15 (PHQ-15)

The Patient Health Questionnaire - 15 (PHQ-15) is a short 15-item self-assessment questionnaire designed to screen for somatization and severity of somatic symptoms. The PHQ-15 is a subscale of somatic symptoms derived from the full PHQ. The thirteen somatic symptoms of the PHQ-15 are included in the somatic symptom module of the PHQ, in which subjects are asked to rate the severity of each symptom. Two additional physical symptoms - feeling tired or lacking energy and having trouble sleeping - are included in the Depression module of the PHQ.

Length of completion

The PHQ-15 takes approximately 3-5 minutes to complete.

Individualized feedback for the respondent

After scoring the questionnaire, the subject will determine the severity of their somatic symptoms.

Keywords

Patient Health Questionnaire, PHQ-15, somatization, somatic symptoms, physical symptoms

Scoring and interpretation

In determining the PHQ-15 score, each individual symptom is coded as 0, 1, or 2, and the total score obtained by summing ranges from 0 to 30. Higher scores indicate more severe somatic symptoms.

Response Scale

Respondents rate the severity of somatic symptoms on a three-point scale: 0 (Not bothered), 1 (Somewhat bothered), or 2 (A lot bothered).

References

Dadfar, M., Asgharnejadfarid, A. A., Hosseini, A. F., Esfahani, M. N., Lester, D., & Kalibatseva, Z. (2020). Measuring somatic symptoms with the PHQ-15: A comparative study of three Iranian samples. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 23(3-4), 289–301. https://doi.org/10.1080/13674676.2020.1718069

Hinz, A., Ernst, J., Glaesmer, H., Brähler, E., Rauscher, F. G., Petrowski, K., & Kocalevent, R. D. (2017). Frequency of somatic symptoms in the general population: Normative values for the Patient Health Questionnaire-15 (PHQ-15). Journal of psychosomatic research, 96, 27–31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychores.2016.12.017

Kroenke, K., Spitzer, R. L., & Williams, J. B. (2002). The PHQ-15: validity of a new measure for evaluating the severity of somatic symptoms. Psychosomatic medicine, 64(2), 258–266. https://doi.org/10.1097/00006842-200203000-00008

Kroenke, K., Spitzer, R. L., Williams, J. B., & Löwe, B. (2010). The Patient Health Questionnaire Somatic, Anxiety, and Depressive Symptom Scales: a systematic review. General hospital psychiatry, 32(4), 345–359. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.genhosppsych.2010.03.006