Brief screening tools to facilitate referral of people with emotional disorders in primary care: A Cohort Study on the use of the Overall Depression and Anxiety Severity and Impairment Scales

Abstract Emotional disorders (EDs) represent a significant volume of consultations in Primary Care (PC), where family physicians do not have the time or tools to assess them effectively. Therefore, individuals are referred to Mental Health Units (MHUs) regardless of the severity of their symptoms. The aim of this study is to explore the screening ability of two brief measures, ODSIS and OASIS. A cohort study was conducted with 256 individuals referred from PC to Spanish MHUs with a main diagnosis of EDs. The variables assessed at pre-psychological treatment, post and up to the 15-month follow-up were anxiety, depression, neuroticism, extraversion, quality of life, interference, and emotional regulation. Participants were retrospectively divided into three groups based on their baseline scores on the severity and interference of depressive (ODSIS) and anxious (OASIS) symptomatology. The results showed statistically significant differences between the three groups in all variables and times assessed, with effect sizes ranging from moderate to large (η² values between 0.42 and 0.95). Similar results were obtained in the linear mixed models, a main effect of the variable “group” was observed in all variables with effect sizes ranging from small to medium (Cohen’s d values between 0.20 and 0.49). However, no “Time*Group” interaction effects were found (except for ODSIS and neuroticism), nor Time*Group*Sessions* so no different evolution was observed over time between groups or based on the number of sessions. ODSIS and OASIS allow an easy and effective discrimination of individuals regarding their emotional symptoms and their differences remain stable over time while receiving a psychological treatment. Trial NCT03064477 (March 10, 2017).