Outcome Measure
Kessler Psychological Distress Scale
What it measures?
- Non-specific psychological distress in the past 2 weeks.
Who is it for?
Adults aged 18 years +
Instrument Quality
- The K10 is one of the most broadly used measures in mental health epidemiology, assessment and research. The instrument possesses strong psychometric properties and there is an established correspondence between score severity and the presence of various psychological disorders (Andrews & Slade, 2001)
Structure
- 10 items
- 5-point Likert scale
- Respondents indicate how frequently (1 = "None of the time"; 5 = "All of the time") they have felt a certain way during the past 4 weeks (e.g. "About how often did you feel nervous?")
Scoring instructions
- Sum the responses for all items
| Subscale | Item number |
|---|---|
Full-scale (K10) |
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 |
Score Interpretation
What higher scores mean?
- Higher levels of psychological distress. Epidemiological data representative of national populations suggests that total scores of 20 or more indicate the presence of psychological disorder (Andrews & Slade, 2001)
Identifying risk
A patient may be at risk if they endorse any of the following ‘red flag’ items. Further risk assessment should be undertaken.
| Item number | Item content |
|---|---|
| 4 | About how often did you feel hopeless? |
How to assess symptom severity & change?
| Description | Score Range | |
|---|---|---|
| Low | 10 | |
| Moderate | 16 | |
| High | 22 | |
| Very high | 30 | |
| Maximum | 50 |
Instrument developers
- Kessler, R. C., Andrews, G., Colpe, L. J., Hiripi, E., Mroczek, D. K., Normand, S., Walters, E. E., & Zaslavsky, A. M. (2002). Short screening scales to monitor population prevalences and trends in non-specific psychological distress. Psychological Medicine, 32(6), 959–976. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0033291702006074
Refrences
Andrews G, Slade T. Interpreting scores on the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10). Aust N Z J Public Health. 2001 Dec;25(6):494-7. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-842x.2001.tb00310.x. PMID: 11824981. Kwan, B., Rickwood, D. J., & Telford, N. R. (2018). Development and validation of MyLifeTracker: a routine outcome measure for youth mental health. Psychology Research and Behavior Management, 67-77. Rickwood, D. J., Mazzer, K. R., Telford, N. R., Parker, A. G., Tanti, C. J., & McGorry, P. D. (2015). Changes in psychological distress and psychosocial functioning in young people visiting headspace centres for mental health problems. Medical journal of Australia, 202(10), 537-542 Merson, F., Newby, J., Shires, A., Millard, M., & Mahoney, A. (2021). The temporal stability of the Kessler psychological distress scale. Australian Psychologist, 56(1), 38-45 Slade T, Grove R, Burgess P. Kessler Psychological Distress Scale: normative data from the 2007 Australian National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing. Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2011 Apr;45(4):308-16. doi: 10.3109/00048674.2010.543653. Epub 2011 Feb 21. PMID: 21332432.
Related Outcome Measures
ACE-Q
The Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire
The Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire (ACE-Q) is a widely used tool for assessing childho...
MDRS-22
Male Depression Risk Scale
The Male Depression Risk Scale (MDRS) measures the risk of depression in men by assessing externali...
DES-II
Dissociative Experiences Scale-II
The DES-II is the most commonly used measure of dissociation. It measures various types of dissocia...
PCL-5
PTSD Checklist for DSM-5
The 20 symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, as outlined in the Diagnostic & Statistical Manua...
PDSS-SR
Panic Disorder Severity Scale – Self-Report
The severity of Panic Disorder symptoms during the past week. Specifically, the instrument assesses...
SCAS-P
Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale – Parent
The SCAS-P measures anxiety symptoms in children in the general population through parent report. T...
PSEQ
Pain Self-Efficacy Questionnaire
The beliefs held by people experiencing chronic pain that they can carry out certain activities even...
PHQ-9
Patient Health Questionnaire 9-Item
Symptoms of Depression over the previous 2 weeks.
RIS
Regensburg Insomnia Scale
Psychological symptoms of insomnia assessing cognitive, emotional and behavioural aspects. The RIS m...
PSWQ
Penn State Worry Questionnaire
The PSWQ assesses pervasive and uncontrollable worry.
GAD-7
Generalised Anxiety 7-Item
The symptoms of Generalized Anxiety Disorder, as outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual ...
CIA
Clinical Impairment Assessment Questionnaire
The severity of psychosocial impairment due to eating disorder pathology.
AUDIT
Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test
The AUDIT identifies risky or harmful alcohol consumption, as well as alcohol dependence or abuse. ...
AAI
Appearance Anxiety Inventory
Cognitive and behavioural symptoms of body image anxiety and body dysmorphic disorder (BDD). In part...
K10
Kessler Psychological Distress Scale
Non-specific psychological distress in the past 2 weeks.
SWLS
The Satisfaction With Life Scale
The Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) examines the extent to which a person is satisfied with thei...
DASS-21
Depression Anxiety Stress Scales – 21-Item
Three self-report subscales assess the emotional states of depression, anxiety and stress.
CORE-OM
Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation
The CORE-OM aims to capture the ‘core’ of client distress and provide a global index of distres...
ASRS
Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale
The ASRS aims to examine Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) symptoms in adults consiste...
Severity ranges
The range values and labels (i.e. ‘low’, ‘moderate’, ‘high’, and ‘very high’) are the same as those employed by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in national surveys. The ABS website reports that their approach is based on research by the Clinical Research Unit for Anxiety and Depression (Crufad), Andrews and Slade (2001), and Korten (date of publication not provided).
Reliable change and clinically significant improvement
A 7-point raw score change has been identified across at least two studies as being indicative of reliable change. Rickwood et al (2015) obtained this value using using reliability coefficients reported for an Australian normative group (age group, 16–24 years) in the 2007 National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing. Kwan et al (2018) obtained the same RCI employing a sample of young people aged 12–25 years attending headspace centres across Australia for mental health-related issues (N = 41 439). Note that the figure is very close to the the value of the standard deviation reported for a clinical sample (Merson et al., 2021).
Mean
Standard Deviation
Reliability