Global Mental Health

Our People & Collaborators

Judith Bass, MPH, MIA, PhD

Associate Professor, Department of Mental Health (primary), and the Center for Humanitarian Health

Paul Bolton, MB, BS, MPH, MSc

Senior Scientist, Department of International Health (primary), Department of Mental Health, and the Center for Humanitarian Health

Emily Haroz, MA, MHS, PhD

Assistant Scientist, Department of Mental Health (primary), and the Center for American Indian Health

Geetha Jayaram, MD, MBA

Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry (primary), Department of Health Policy and Management, and the Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety

Jeremy Kane, MPH, PhD

Assistant Scientist, Department of Mental Health (primary), and the Center for Humanitarian Health

Catherine Lee, MPH, PhD

Assistant Scientist, Department of International Health (primary), and the Center for Humanitarian Health

Laura Murray, PhD

Associate Scientist, Department of Mental Health (primary), Department of International Health, and the Center for Humanitarian Health

Sarah Murray, MSPH, PhD

Assistant Professor, Department of Mental Health (primary), and the Center for Humanitarian Health

Pamela Surkan, ScD

Associate Professor, Department of International Health (primary), Department of Health, Behavior and Society, and Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health

Wietse Tol, PhD

Associate Professor, Department of Mental Health (primary), and the Center for Humanitarian Health; Program Director Peter C. Alderman Foundation

Larry Wissow, MD, MPH

Professor of Community Psychiatry, School of Medicine (primary), and JHSPH Departments of Mental Health, Epidemiology, International Health, and Health, Behavior and Society

Kristina Metz, PhD

Research Associate, Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Quincy Moore, MPH

Research Associate, Department of Mental Health

Sarah Porter, MHS

(Website Admin) Research Program Coordinator, Department of Mental Health

Flor Rojas, MPH

Research Associate, Department of Mental Health

Matthew Schojan, BA

Research Associate, Department of Mental Health

Stephanie Skavenski van Wyck, MSW, MPH

Research Associate, Department of Mental Health

International Depression Symptoms Screener (IDSS)

Electronic Survey Standard instruments used to screen or diagnose depression were developed based on Western models of depression, frequently based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM). Research has shown that these instruments may only partially capture the experience of depression in populations around the world. To address this concern, we developed the International Depression Symptom Scale (IDSS), a self-report instrument to be used for measuring the burden and severity of depression around the world.

We created the IDSS based on a systematic review of global qualitative research to identify common signs and symptoms of depression across regions, sex and context (Haroz et al. 2017) and a statistical analysis, using Item Response Theory (IRT), of depression data from eight distinct cultural settings (Haroz et al. 2016). The IDSS combines symptoms that were commonly reported in qualitative studies and which performed the best in the statistical analyses.

The IDSS includes 29 items in the global version (IDSS-G) with the option for adding additional items based on local context (IDSS local; IDSS-L). The IDSS has now been validated in three different settings with adults: 1) Yangon, Myanmar; 2) Karen State, Myanmar; and 3) Kiev and Zaporiziha, Ukraine. Reports on the validation studies and the IDSS measure are available by request.

Haroz, E. E., Bolton, P., Gross, A., Chan, K. S., Michalopoulos, L., & Bass, J. (2016). Depression symptoms across cultures: an IRT analysis of standard depression symptoms using data from eight countries. Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology, 51(7), 981-991.

Haroz, E. E., Ritchey, M., Bass, J. K., Kohrt, B. A., Augustinavicius, J., Michalopoulos, L., ... & Bolton, P. (2017). How is depression experienced around the world? A systematic review of qualitative literature. Social Science & Medicine, 183, 151-162.