
MEASURING WELLBEING IN THE WORKPLACE:
SINGLE-ITEM SCALES OF DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY
G.M. Williams &A.P. Smith
School of Psychology, Cardiff University, UK
This paper examines the use of single-items to assess the degree
of depression and anxiety in a workforce. One hundred and twenty
university staff were assessed for depression and anxiety using the
Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and a single-item measure
for each factor. Results show that scores from 1–10 on a single-item
can be used to identify likelihood of depression or anxiety with a
sensitivity between 71% and 87% and a specificity between 73%
and 88%. The findings provide initial support ...