Year: 2026
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Depression is a common mental health disorder in the United States that places significant burden on the individual, the community, and the country. It is estimated that 7.8% of adults in the U.S. experienced major depression in 2019. Having a depression diagnosis places the individual at increased risk for suicide by 31%. Therefore, it is important to screen for depression. In a small outpatient mental health clinic, a gap in practice was identified as a lack of depression screening at patient encounters. The question was asked: In the outpatient clinical setting, what is the impact of improved use of the PHQ-9 on depression screening and treatment planning in the clinical setting? Utilizing the PDSA cycle, an organization change process quality improvement project was conducted. Initial clinical data revealed that the PHQ-9 was used 94% of the time on initial screenings and 5% during follow up visits. The identified goal for the PHQ-9 was 100% for initial encounters and 80% for follow up encounters. The organization change process occurred over a 4-week implementation period and was found to be successful with a 100% completion rate at initial visits and 92% completion rate at follow up visits. Subjective data gathered found that the use of the PHQ-9 at each patient encounter was beneficial in identifying undiagnosed and underreported depression symptoms and improved treatment planning and early intervention.
Source: ScholarWorks (Walden University)
Author: Young, Meghan Rey
Institution: Walden University
Language: English
Subfield: Psychiatry and Mental health
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7210860037