Evaluation of a short form of the POMS-Depression scale

This study evaluated Shacham's 8-item short form of the original 15-item POMS-Depression scale (N = 131). The study found that the short form (a) did not have significantly lower concurrent validity than the original form; (b) had only slightly lower internal consistency; and (c) had a mean and a standard deviation close enough to those of the original form to allow prorating of short-form scores for interpretation with original form norms. It was concluded that the short form is roughly equivalent psychometrically to the previously validated original form. The short form of the POMS- Depression scale was identified as apparently the shortest available validated measure of depression.