PRIMARY CARE PRINCIPLES FOR CHILD MENTAL HEALTH 67
Self Report Version — SMFQ
Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire
This form is about how you might have been feeling or acting recently.
For each question, please check how much you have felt or acted this way in the past two weeks.
If a sentence was true about you most of the time, check TRUE.
If it was only sometimes true, check SOMETIMES.
If a sentence was not true about you, check NOT TRUE.
NOT TRUE SOMETIMES TRUE
1. I felt miserable or unhappy ❏ ❏ ❏
2. I didn’t enjoy anything at all ❏ ❏ ❏
3. I felt so tired I just sat around and did nothing ❏ ❏ ❏
4. I was very restless ❏ ❏ ❏
5. I felt I was no good any more ❏ ❏ ❏
6. I cried a lot ❏ ❏ ❏
7. I found it hard to think properly or concentrate ❏ ❏ ❏
8. I hated myself ❏ ❏ ❏
9. I was a bad person ❏ ❏ ❏
10. I felt lonely ❏ ❏ ❏
11. I thought nobody really loved me ❏ ❏ ❏
12. I thought I could never be as good as other kids ❏ ❏ ❏
13. I did everything wrong ❏ ❏ ❏
Copyright Adrian Angold & Elizabeth J. Costerllo, 1987; Developed Epidemiology Program, Duke University
Reproduced with permission from developer, may be reproduced for use with one’s own patients.
68 PRIMARY CARE PRINCIPLES FOR CHILD MENTAL HEALTH
Parent Report Version — SMFQ
Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire
This form is about how your child may have been feeling or acting recently.
For each question, please check how much she or he has felt or acted this way in the past two weeks.
If a sentence was true about your child most of the time, check TRUE.
If it was only sometimes true, check SOMETIMES.
If a sentence was not true about your child, check NOT TRUE.
Copyright Adrian Angold & Elizabeth J. Costerllo, 1987; Developed Epidemiology Program, Duke University
Reproduced with permission from developer, may be reproduced for use with one’s own patients.
NOT TRUE SOMETIMES TRUE
1. S/he felt miserable or unhappy ❏ ❏ ❏
2. S/he didn’t enjoy anything at all ❏ ❏ ❏
3. S/he felt so tired that s/he just sat around and did nothing ❏ ❏ ❏
4. S/he was very restless ❏ ❏ ❏
5. S/he felt s/he was no good any more ❏ ❏ ❏
6. S/he cried a lot ❏ ❏ ❏
7. S/he found it hard to think properly or concentrate ❏ ❏ ❏
8. S/he hated him/herself ❏ ❏ ❏
9. S/he felt s/he was a bad person ❏ ❏ ❏
10. S/he felt lonely ❏ ❏ ❏
11. S/he thought nobody really loved him/her ❏ ❏ ❏
12. S/he thought s/he could never be as good as other kids ❏ ❏ ❏
13. S/he felt s/he did everything wrong ❏ ❏ ❏
PRIMARY CARE PRINCIPLES FOR CHILD MENTAL HEALTH 69
Scoring the SMFQ
Note: the SMFQ has been validated for use in children age 6 years and up.
The SMFQ should not be used to make a definitive diagnosis of depression. It has
usefulness as a screening tool for situations where depression is suspected, and as an
aid toward following a child’s symptom severity and treatment response over time.
Scoring:
Assign a numerical value to each answer as follows:
Not true = 0
Sometimes = 1
True = 2
Add up the assigned values for all 13 questions. Record the total score.
A total score on the child version of the SMFQ of 8 or more is considered significant.
Sensitivity of 60% and specificity of 85% for major depression at a cut o
score of 8 or higher. Source is Angold A, Costello EJ, Messer SC. “Development
of a short questionnaire for use in epidemiological studies of depression in
children and adolescents.” International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric
Research (1995), 5:237-249.
Sensitivity/specificity statistics of the parent version is not reported in the literature.
If your patient does not complete the child version of SMFQ, repeated administration
of the parent version over time should still be useful for symptom tracking.
(Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire)
