Validation of the Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (MFQ) and Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (SMFQ) in New Zealand help-seeking adolescents.

Abstract

This study examines the reliability and validity of the Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (MFQ) and Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (SMFQ) for measuring depression in New Zealand help-seeking adolescents. A sample of 183 adolescents completed the 33-item MFQ, which includes all 13 items on the SMFQ, at three time points during a trial of a computerized intervention for depression. Both the MFQ and SMFQ demonstrated good to excellent Cronbach's alphas, moderate to strong item-total score correlations, moderate to strong correlations with quality of life and anxiety measures, and strong correlations with the clinician-rated Children's Depression Rating Scale-Revised and the Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale 2 at all time points, indicating good reliability and content, convergent, and concurrent validities, respectively. Favoring sensitivity over specificity, the optimal cut-off value for differentiating depressed from nondepressed cases for the MFQ was ≥28 and for the SMFQ was ≥12. Both instruments demonstrated satisfactory diagnostic accuracy and sensitivity to change. The MFQ and SMFQ are free and simple instruments that can be used to identify depression and measure symptom change in New Zealand help-seeking adolescents.