Depression Information Needs Scale (DINS)

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The Depression Information Needs Scale (DINS) is designed to assess the unmet information needs of community members with regards to depression. The DINS contains 20 items in total and is made up of four subscales. The subscales are General (facts about depression), Lived experience, Research and policies, and Specific treatments. Respondents are asked to rate their need for more information about depression. Each item is rated on a 5-point scale from strongly disagree (0) to strongly agree (4).

Depression information needs scale items

General (facts about depression)

  • The symptoms of depression and how to tell if someone is depressed
  • The causes of depression and who is most at risk of depression
  • The course of depression (how long it lasts and if and how it recurs)
  • The treatments that work for depression
  • How common depression is in the community
  • Which professionals and groups can help someone who is depressed
  • How I can help someone who is depressed

Lived experience

  • People’s personal stories about coping with depression during the initial stages of an episode of depression
  • People’s personal stories about coping during the recovery phase of depression
  • People’s personal stories about how it feels to be depressed
  • People’s personal stories about the attitudes of others to their depression
  • People’s experiences of which treatments work for their depression

Research and policies

  • Workplace depression policies
  • Government policies and strategies for combating depression
  • Funding of research on depression
  • Recent research findings about depression

Specific treatments

  • The side effects of antidepressants and how to cope with them
  • Which psychological treatments work for depression
  • Which prescription medications work for depression
  • Which alternative and lifestyle treatments work for depression

Norms and psychometric properties

Population norms

Percentage endorsing an item with either agree or strongly agree.

Based on a sample of 12,319 Australians aged between 18-65, randomly selected via electoral rolls in NSW, VIC and ACT.

General Na %(n)

The symptoms of depression and how to tell if someone is depressed

12,183

69.1 (8,416)

The causes of depression and who is most at risk of depression

12,184

70.1 (8,539)

The course of depression (how long it lasts and if and how it recurs)

12,177

71.5 (8,712)

The treatments that work for depression

12,177

76.0 (9,260)

How common depression is in the community

12,187

50.4 (6,137)

Which professionals and groups can help someone who is depressed

12,152

70.2 (8,536)

How I can help someone who is depressed

12,144

78.1 (9,484)

Specific treatments Na %(n)

The side effects of antidepressants and how to cope with them

12,151

64.8 (7,873)

Which psychological treatments work for depression

12,148

65.9 (8,001)

Which prescription medications work for depression

12,146

51.3 (6,226)

Which alternative and lifestyle treatments work for depression

12,148

73.0 (8,869)

Lived experience Na %(n)

People’s personal stories about coping with depression during the initial stages of an episode of depression

12,145

55.9 (6,785)

People’s personal stories about coping during the recovery phase of depression

12,140

57.5 (6,986)

People’s personal stories about how it feels to be depressed

12,149

48.7 (5,922)

People’s personal stories about the attitudes of others to their depression

12,135

54.9 (6,667)

People’s experiences of which treatments work for their depression

12,106

63.9 (7,736)

General Na %(n)

Workplace depression policies

12,121

62.5 (7,576)

Government policies and strategies for combating depression

12,136

55.9 (6,790)

Funding of research on depression

12,128

56.5 (6,848)

Recent research findings about depression

12,130

69.4 (8,420)

a N values vary due to missing data.

Key references

Griffiths, K.M. & Crisp, D. (2012). Unmet depression information needs in the community. Journal of Affective Disorders, 146, 348-354.