Assessing depression in rural communities.

Objectives: Examined the severity of depressive symptoms and the rates of probable depression assessed by different instruments that were included in two separate surveys of residents in a predominately rural region of the United States.

Method: Surveys of the Brazos Valley region in south central Texas were conducted and responses to the short form of the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression scale (in the 2006 survey) and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (in the 2010 survey) were analyzed.

Results: Regardless of instrument used, results indicate that women and African Americans are at greater risk for depression in this underserved region, but no unique effects were found for rural residency.

Implications: Implications for research, assessment, program planning, and policy are discussed.