Severity of symptoms of psychiatric outpatients: use of the General Health Questionnaire in hospital and general practice patients

1975 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. C. P. Sims ◽  
P. H. Salmons

SynopsisA sample of 91 new referrals to a community based psychiatric outpatient service was compared with a cross-matched control sample of 107 patients attending the general practitioner's surgery. The subjects in both groups completed the General Health Questionnaire and there was a very marked difference between the scores of the two groups. Seventy-five of the psychiatric group had a high score on the questionnaire, and a large number of these were extremely high, while 74 of the general practice group had a low score. The ‘false’ positives and negatives are discussed. It is considered that the validity of this questionnaire as a screening device for demonstrating psychiatric morbidity and severity in general practice is further established in this study by showing that in matched samples the expected psychiatric morbidity in general practice can be compared with the much greater morbidity in psychiatric outpatient referrals. For the psychiatric sample more patients showed high scores and these tended to be much higher.

1987 ◽  
Vol 151 (3) ◽  
pp. 373-381 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. P. Boardman

This paper reports on a study of psychiatric morbidity in 920 patients attending 18 General Practitioners in Lewisham, South East London. Two indices of morbidity were computed on the basis of the patients responses to the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) and the GPs' own estimates. Indices of the GPs' detection ability were found by comparing questionnaire and GP rating. The results are compared to those obtained by other workers in a sample of Manchester GPs. The GHQ gave a prevalence estimate of 42.9% which is comparable to that of 39.6% obtained in the Manchester study. In addition, the variation in caseness across sociodemographic groups was consistent with the Manchester findings. The GPs' estimates of morbidity, while much lower than those obtained in Manchester, have similar sociodemographic profiles. The results support the use of the GHQ as a screening device in epidemiological studies, and suggest the need for further investigation of the individual GP's performance as a case detector.


1985 ◽  
Vol 146 (4) ◽  
pp. 372-376 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Stanley ◽  
Andrew J. Gibson

SummarySeveral studies have commented upon the false negatives which can result when the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) is employed as a community screening device for psychological distress. It would appear that some false negatives are the result of individual or cultural factors, whilst others result from the phrasing of the GHQ questions, which may mislead patients suffering from chronic disorders. This paper reports the use of additional questions, designed to detect such chronicity.


1992 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Cheung ◽  
George Spears

A community postal survey of minor psychiatric morbidity among Chinese women living in Dunedin was conducted. The 28-item version of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) was used as the case identification instrument. The overall rate of psychiatric morbidity of Dunedin Chinese women did not differ from their European counterparts. The sociodemographic factors found to be associated with minor psychiatric morbidity included having no children, and being either very well or very poorly educated. Among (foreign born) migrants, those who were born in China, whose reason for migration was “follow the lead of their family” or “family reunion”, had resided in NewZealand for ten years or more and spoke English infrequently tended to have higher psychiatric morbidity.


1980 ◽  
Vol 137 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Burt Singerman ◽  
Erwin Riedner ◽  
Marshal Folstein

SummaryA group of outpatients scheduled for hearing evaluation were screened for psychiatric morbidity using the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-30). There was an association between objective hearing loss and elevated GHQ-30 score. An association was also found between the presence of tinnitus and vestibular symptoms and elevated GHQ-30 score.


1984 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 256-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. W. Burvill ◽  
M. W. Knuiman ◽  
R. A. Finlay-Jones

A factor analytic study of responses to a 60-item General Health Questionnaire of people in general practice and in the community in Perth, Western Australia, was performed. Five identified factors, accounting for 46% of the variance, were very similar to factors identified in an English general practice study but differed from two published Australian studies. The statistic of a relative GHQ profile was generated to compare these factors in various sets of data. There was no significant difference between the relative GHQ profile in the community and general practice data or between demographic factors such as sex, social class and country of birth. The major positive finding was of an excess of overtly psychological factors in ‘cases’ compared with an excess of more physical factors in ‘non-cases’.


1990 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 711-719 ◽  
Author(s):  
I-B. Krause ◽  
R. M. Rosser ◽  
M. L. Khiani ◽  
N. S. Lotay

SynopsisThe 28-item GHQ was administered to 282 Punjabi and white British patients visiting two Health Centres in Bedford. We discovered that ethnicity is not significantly correlated with GHQ ‘caseness’, but that differences exist in somatic and depressive symptomatology. The discussion relates these findings to debates about the psychiatric morbidity of Asian immigrants and somatization.


1991 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 157-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. A. Stansfeld ◽  
J. E. J. Gallacher ◽  
D. S. Sharp ◽  
J. W. G. Yarnell

SYNOPSISA cross-sectional survey of minor psychiatric disorder is reported in a representative community sample of 2204 men between the ages of 45 years and 64 years living in Caerphilly, South Wales. Minor psychiatric disorder was measured by the 30-item General Health Questionnaire and validated by the Clinical Interview Schedule in a consecutive sample of 97 men, weighted to provide one-third cases, two-thirds non-cases. A case threshold of 4/5 on the General Health Questionnaire was chosen on the basis of ‘ROC’ analysis. An overall estimated ‘true’ prevalence rate for minor psychiatric disorder of 22·0% was found, with 22·3% of men scoring 5 or more on the General Health Questionnaire. Rates of minor psychiatric disorder were higher in widowed and divorced men than in married men but were also, unexpectedly, lower in single as opposed to married men. There was no social-class gradient in minor psychiatric morbidity but a lower rate in Social Class III NM may be largely explained by lower unemployment rates. There were markedly higher rates of minor psychiatric morbidity in unemployed men and those who retired ill. Men with no available social contacts had higher rates of morbidity than men with some or high social contacts.


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