15-item screening measure for somatic symptom severity in primary care. ≈ 3 min to complete. Free with attribution.
PHQ-15 (Patient Health Questionnaire-15) is a validated clinical instrument used to assess 15-item screening measure for somatic symptom severity in primary care.. It is most often used for 15-item screening measure for somatic symptom severity in primary care.. The instrument contains 15 items. Typical administration time is ≈ 3 min.
Source / attribution: Free to use with citation
15-item screening measure for somatic symptom severity in primary care. PHQ-15 is part of standard practice in this setting because it provides a structured, replicable assessment that can be tracked over time and compared across patients or visits.
Like all screening or assessment instruments, PHQ-15 is a structured aid — not a diagnostic test in isolation. Results should be interpreted alongside history, examination, and clinical context. Where a score crosses an actionable threshold, the next step is typically a more detailed clinical evaluation rather than a definitive diagnosis.
Answer all 15 items below to see your PHQ-15 score and interpretation.
Each item is scored on a 3-point scale (0–2). Your score updates live as you answer.
All scoring runs in your browser. No data is sent anywhere — close the tab and the answers are gone.
Sum all 15 items scored 0-2. Total range 0-30. Higher scores = greater somatic symptom severity.
Scoring notes: Sum all 15 items scored 0-2. Total range 0-30. Higher scores = greater somatic symptom severity.
The cutoffs below are drawn from the published validation literature. Always interpret in clinical context.
| Score range | Band | Interpretation |
|---|---|---|
| 0–4 | Minimal | None |
| 5–9 | Low | Monitor |
| 10–14 | Medium | Consider treatment |
| 15–30 | High | Active treatment |
This is an illustrative walkthrough, not a real patient. Follow the same four steps with your own answers — or use the live calculator at the top of this page.
Read each question and choose the response that best fits. Each response has a number next to it — that number is the item's score. The example below uses illustrative answers.
| # | Item | Example response | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stomach pain | Bothered a little | 1 |
| 2 | Back pain | Bothered a little | 1 |
| 3 | Pain in your arms, legs, or joints (knees, hips, etc.) | Bothered a little | 1 |
| 4 | Menstrual cramps or other problems with your periods | Bothered a little | 1 |
| 5 | Headaches | Bothered a little | 1 |
| 6 | Chest pain | Bothered a little | 1 |
| 7 | Dizziness | Bothered a little | 1 |
| 8 | Fainting spells | Bothered a little | 1 |
| 9 | Feeling your heart pound or race | Bothered a little | 1 |
| 10 | Shortness of breath | Not bothered at all | 0 |
| 11 | Pain or problems during sexual intercourse | Bothered a little | 1 |
| 12 | Constipation, loose bowels, or diarrhea | Not bothered at all | 0 |
| 13 | Nausea, gas, or indigestion | Bothered a little | 1 |
| 14 | Feeling tired or having low energy | Not bothered at all | 0 |
| 15 | Trouble sleeping | Bothered a little | 1 |
Add up all the item scores you noted in Step 1.
1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + … (items 9–15 sum to 4) = 12
Find the row in the interpretation table whose range contains your total:
Total = 12 falls between 10 and 14 → Medium
Medium. Consider treatment
A score is one input alongside history and examination. PHQ-15 supports clinical judgment — it does not replace it.
Psychometric figures are drawn from the validation literature and may vary across clinical populations and translations.
If PHQ-15 doesn't fit your context, related instruments in somatic include:
| Scale | Measures | Items | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| BPI | 15-item measure assessing pain severity and pain interference with daily functioning. | 11 | ≈ 3 min |
| FIQR | 21-item revised version assessing functional status, overall impact, and symptoms of fibromyalgia. | 21 | ≈ 5 min |
| PHQ-9 | Severity of depression | 9 | ≈ 3 minutes |
| GAD-7 | Severity of generalized anxiety | 7 | ≈ 2 minutes |
| AUDIT | 10-item WHO screening tool for hazardous alcohol consumption and dependence. | 10 | ≈ 3 min |
| CHA2DS2-VASc | Annual stroke risk in non-valvular atrial fibrillation | 8 | — |
| Glasgow Coma Scale | Level of consciousness after head injury | 3 | — |
| MELD-Na | 3-month mortality in advanced liver disease; transplant prioritization | 5 | — |
PHQ-15 (Patient Health Questionnaire-15) is a validated instrument that assesses somatic symptom severity in primary care. It is designed for clinicians, medical students, evidence-synthesis researchers. It takes about 3 min to complete, and the 15 items are summed to produce a total score.
PHQ-15 typically takes about 3 min to administer. The exact duration varies a little depending on whether it is self-administered or completed with a clinician. Its brief format is part of what makes it practical for routine clinical use and for repeat administration when tracking change over time.
PHQ-15 contains 15 items. Item scores are summed to produce the total. Scores run from 0 to 30, grouped into 4 interpretation bands from ‘Minimal’ up to ‘High’.
On the PHQ-15 (total score 0–30), scores of 15–30 fall in the ‘High’ band — interpreted as: Active treatment. The full ladder is: 0–4 — Minimal: None.; 5–9 — Low: Monitor.; 10–14 — Medium: Consider treatment.; 15–30 — High: Active treatment. A higher score reflects a more severe presentation, and crossing a cutoff is a prompt to step up assessment or care — but these bands are screening thresholds, not diagnoses.
Scores of 0–4 fall in the ‘Minimal’ band: None. A low score is reassuring but does not by itself rule out the underlying condition — if symptoms or clinical suspicion persist, reassess over time or use a complementary evaluation rather than relying on the number alone.
PHQ-15 has reported Cronbach's α of 0.83 in validation samples and test–retest reliability of 0.78. Correlates with functional impairment and health care use. In practical terms, a Cronbach’s α around 0.83 indicates good internal consistency (the items hang together well), and a test–retest reliability of 0.78 means scores are well when the scale is repeated without real clinical change.
PHQ-15 is free to use with attribution — clinical, educational, and research use is permitted provided the original source is credited. If you publish results or reproduce the scale, include the citation to the source paper.
Kroenke, K., Spitzer, R. L., & Williams, J. B. (2002). The PHQ-15: Validity of a new measure for evaluating the severity of somatic symptoms. Psychosomatic Medicine, 64(2), 258-266. This is the original publication for the PHQ-15 — the reference to cite when reporting results.
No. PHQ-15 is a structured assessment aid, not a diagnostic test. Its proper role is clinical assessment of somatic symptom severity in primary care — it standardizes assessment and flags who needs closer evaluation, but the result must be weighed alongside history, examination, and clinical context. When a score conflicts with your clinical impression, clinical judgment takes precedence; treatment decisions should never rest on a screening score alone.
PHQ-15 is supported by the following peer-reviewed sources: