Degree Name
Nursing Practice, DNP
Publication Date
11-28-2025
First Advisor
Sandy King
Second Advisor
Beverly Clark
Abstract
Depression is a prevalent mental health disorder that affects daily functioning. Timely screening enables the identification of symptoms, monitoring treatment efficacy, and informs additional treatment such as referrals. The practice site reported low screening rates of patient’s post-psychiatric hospitalization, which was attributed to inadequate knowledge of the PHQ-9 tool. The purpose of this quality improvement project was to evaluate the impact of staff education on the utilization of the PHQ-9 tool and follow-up management protocol in a mental health clinic. A quasi-experimental design method was used in an outpatient mental health clinic. Pretest knowledge of the PHQ-9 was obtained from 10 nurses before and after staff education. Pretest screening rates were retrieved from the clinic’s records at the beginning and six weeks thereafter. The mean knowledge scores increased from 13.00 (SD = 1.88) to 17.30 (SD = 0.67) post-intervention (p = 0.005). Of the 52 patients who returned for follow-up appointments over six weeks, 49 were screened using the PHQ-9, representing a 94.2% screening rate, compared to the pre-intervention screening rate of 63%. These findings show that educating nurses on the PHQ-9 enhanced their knowledge and confidence in using the tool and enhanced screening rates. The project demonstrated that targeted education for nurses in mental healthcare settings can have a significant impact on improving knowledge and the practice of depression screening. With continued leadership support, effective training, and system integration, nurses can effect positive changes in mental health care.
Rights Management
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Recommended Citation
Jerideau, Shuntak, "Quality Improvement Project: The Impact of Staff Education on Utilization of the PHQ-9 Tool and Follow-up Management Protocol" (2025). Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects. 272.
https://arch.astate.edu/dnp-projects/272
