Brief Description
The Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale-10 (DASS-10) is a cross-cutting assessment that measures emotional distress, specifically depression, anxiety, and stress. The depression scale assesses hopelessness, devaluation of life, anhedonia, and inertia. The anxiety scale assesses autonomic arousal, situational anxiety, and subjective experience of anxious affect. The stress scale is sensitive to levels of chronic nonspecific arousal and assesses irritability, upset, and difficulty relaxing. This abbreviated measure was adapted from the 21-item DASS for adults and has strong reliability and validity. Respondents are asked to rate the degree to which each statement (e.g., “I felt I was close to panic”) applied to them during the past week on a scale from “Never- Did not apply to me at all” to “Almost Always- Applied to me very much, or most of the time.” This measure is based on the 42 and 21-item DASS questionnaires and was created to provide a faster method for tracking depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms from week-to-week.
Assessment Administration Type
Self-report
Number of questions
10
Age Range for Administration
18+
Recommended Frequency of Administration
Weekly
Summary of Scoring and Interpretations
The DASS-10 contains 10 questions scored on a 4-point Likert scale with values from 0 (“Never- Did not apply to me at all”) to 3 (“Almost Always- Applied to me very much, or most of the time”). A total score is calculated by summing all item response scores; higher scores are associated with higher levels of depression, anxiety and stress. Total score interpretations are as follows:
Interpretation | Score |
Normal/Mild | 0-6 |
Moderate | 7-12 |
Severe | 13+ |
The measure authors posit that for most clinical purposes, the total distress score is most likely the most useful score to use for outcome assessment and progress monitoring. However, two subscale scores can also be calculated by summing their corresponding items. See table below.
Subscale | Corresponding Questions |
Depression | 2, 3, 5, 10 |
Anxiety-Stress | 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 |
To interpret scores over time, symptom changes are classified as follows:
Interpretation | Change in score |
Significantly intensified | Increase by 5+ points |
Sightly intensified | Increase by 2-4 points |
Unchanged | Change by 1 point or less |
Slightly improved | Reduction by 2-4 points |
Significantly improved | Reduction by 5+ points |
Blueprint Adjustments
N/A
Clinical Considerations
Estimated completion time: 2-4 minutes
Clinical decision-making, such as treatment planning, based on specific score profiles should only be made by experienced clinicians who have also conducted a thorough clinical examination.
Not appropriate for use with individuals with autism or psychosis.
The DASS is not meant to be a diagnostic tool.
Citation
Relevant Articles + Further Resources
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