Self assessments

Assess your mood and anxiety in just a few minutes

What are self-assessments?

Self-assessments are short, science-backed questionnaires that help you reflect on your mental health. While they aren’t a diagnosis, they can give you helpful insight into how you’re feeling — and whether it may be time to seek additional support.

We use two of the most widely recognized tools in mental health care:

PHQ-9: Screens for symptoms of depression.

GAD-7: Assesses the severity of anxiety symptoms.

These tools are used by professionals around the world and are trusted for their simplicity and effectiveness. When done regularly, they can help you track changes in your mood or stress levels over time.

Self-assessment illustration
Self-assessment illustration

What is the PHQ-9?

The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) is a widely used screening tool that helps assess the severity of depressive symptoms. It consists of nine questions, each rated on a scale from 0 (Not at all) to 3 (Nearly every day). These questions focus on symptoms like:

  • Persistent sadness
  • Loss of interest or pleasure
  • Fatigue
  • Sleep disturbances
  • Difficulty concentrating

After completing the questionnaire, the total score categorizes depression into one of five levels: Minimal, Mild, Moderate, Moderately Severe, or Severe.

The PHQ-9 is not only valuable for identifying depression but also for tracking subtle changes over time, making it a powerful tool for monitoring treatment progress.

Validity and Reliability of PHQ-9

The reliability of the PHQ-9, assessed by the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, showed an internal consistency of 0.824, which exceeds the recommended threshold of 0.8 — indicating excellent reliability.

To assess construct validity, confirmatory factor analysis was conducted. The data suitability was verified using the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure and Bartlett's Test of Sphericity.

  • KMO value: 0.879 — exceeding the recommended minimum of 0.6
  • Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity: χ² = 1689.151, df = 36, p < 0.001
  • All PHQ-9 items showed statistically significant results (p < 0.001)

These findings confirm the PHQ-9’s strong psychometric properties and its appropriateness as a reliable and valid tool for assessing depressive symptoms.

What is the GAD-7?

The Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7)is the extensive version of the GAD-2, which provides a comprehensive assessment of anxiety severity with seven items. It consists of seven questions, each rated on a scale from 0 (Not at all) to 3 (Nearly every day).

After completing the questionnaire, the total score categorizes anxiety into one of five levels: Minimal, Mild, Moderate, Moderately Severe, or Severe.

This allows for an in-depth analysis of the impact of art therapy on varying levels of anxiety.

Self-assessment illustration

Validity and Reliability of GAD-7

Validity testing was conducted through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The applicability of the factor analysis was confirmed by the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) coefficient, which was 0.915, exceeding the recommended value of 0.6.

Additionally, Bartlett's Test of Sphericity was statistically significant (χ² = 2425.95, df = 21, p < 0.01), indicating that factor analysis could be performed.

The exploratory factor analysis revealed a single factor, which explained 61.40% of the total variance in the GAD-7 items. All items in the GAD-7 had statistically significant loadings, all greater than 0.5, confirming that all seven items are crucial for interpretation.