Validation of the 30-item General Health Questionnaire in early pregnancy

SynopsisOne-hundred-and-seventy-nine women attending their first antenatal clinic at two general practices in South London were asked to complete the 30-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-30) as part of a larger prospective longitudinal study into childbirth-related affective disorders. The women were later interviewed at home and a standardized psychiatric interview administered. Relative operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to determine the optimum cut-off point on the GHQ-30. Thirty-five per cent of the women were high scorers on the GHQ-30 (≥6) and 29% were found to be ‘cases’ at interview (CIS Overall Severity Rating ≥2).

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Validation of the 30-item General Health Questionnaire in postpartum women

Psychological Medicine ◽

10.1017/s0033291700046742 ◽

1982 ◽

Vol 12 (2) ◽

pp. 409-413 ◽

Cited By ~ 38

Author(s):

P. N. Nott ◽

S. Cutts

Keyword(s):

Psychiatric Disorder ◽

General Health ◽

General Health Questionnaire ◽

Slight Modification ◽

Screening Instrument ◽

Postpartum Women ◽

Health Questionnaire ◽

Psychiatric Interview ◽

General Practices ◽

At Home

SynopsisTwo hundred consecutive women from five Southampton general practices who were between 8 and 14 weeks postpartum were visited at home. Each subject was given the 30-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-30) and a standardized psychiatric interview. Thirty-seven (18%) were identified as ‘cases’ by the psychiatric interview. Eighty-nine (44.5%) scored highly on the GHQ. Analysis of the results indicates that slight modification of the content and a raised cut-off point of the GHQ-30 make it a useful screening instrument for postpartum psychiatric disorder.

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Validity of the Repeated Ghq among Pregnant Women: A Study in a Japanese General Hospital

The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine ◽

10.2190/w6mu-xrc6-16kf-3q88 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 24 (2) ◽

pp. 149-156 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Toshinori Kitamura ◽

Mari A. Toda ◽

Satoru Shima ◽

Masumi Sugawara

Keyword(s):

Pregnant Women ◽

General Hospital ◽

Affective Disorders ◽

General Health ◽

General Health Questionnaire ◽

Antenatal Clinic ◽

Discriminatory Power ◽

Health Questionnaire ◽

Validity Measures

Objective: The authors examined the variability of the validity of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) on two different occasions. Method: The subjects were 120 pregnant women attending an antenatal clinic of a general hospital in Japan. The GHQ was distributed twice—in the first and third trimesters. They were then interviewed by a psychiatrist blind to the GHQ scores using the standard and the “change” version of the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (SADS). Results: Of the 120 women, 108 and ninety-eight completed the GHQ and were successfully interviewed in the first and third trimesters, respectively. Seventeen percent (18/108) and 13 percent (13/98) women were given RDC diagnoses in the first and third trimesters, respectively: They were designated as cases. Despite a satisfactory discriminatory power of the GHQ on the first occasion [1], the validity measures of the GHQ on the second occasion were generally poor. Thus, the sensitivity was 39 percent and specificity 82 percent for the cut-off point of 7/8. Conclusions: The GHQ should be validated separately when distributed repeatedly to the same subjects.

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Validity and Uses of a Screening Questionnaire (GHQ) in the Community

The British Journal of Psychiatry ◽

10.1192/bjp.134.5.508 ◽

1979 ◽

Vol 134 (5) ◽

pp. 508-515 ◽

Cited By ~ 155

Author(s):

A. Tarnopolsky ◽

D. J. Hand ◽

E. K. McLean ◽

Howard Roberts ◽

R. D. Wiggins

Keyword(s):

General Health ◽

General Health Questionnaire ◽

Health Questionnaire ◽

Psychiatric Interview ◽

Screening Questionnaire ◽

Specificity And Sensitivity ◽

Epidemiological Surveys

SummaryThe 30-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) has been validated against the criterion of a standardized psychiatric interview in the community. Used for screening, the GHQ misclassified 25 per cent of 105 respondents, being worse for men. Specificity and sensitivity were above.70. The alternative use of the GHQ as an estimator and as an indicator of morbidity in epidemiological surveys is described and discussed.

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Psychiatric Disorder in the Community and the General Health Questionnaire

The British Journal of Psychiatry ◽

10.1192/bjp.150.6.828 ◽

1987 ◽

Vol 150 (6) ◽

pp. 828-835 ◽

Cited By ~ 25

Author(s):

P. G. Surtees

Keyword(s):

Psychiatric Disorder ◽

General Health ◽

General Health Questionnaire ◽

Future Research ◽

Health Questionnaire ◽

Scoring Method ◽

Relative Operating Characteristic ◽

General Population Study ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Item Responses

Goodchild & Duncan-Jones (1985) have proposed a new scoring method for Goldberg's General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) in which increased weight is given to item responses considered to indicate current (but chronic) affective disorders. This report examines both their revised and the conventional scoring of the GHQ in the context of a longitudinal general population study of psychiatric disorder among women. Sensitivity estimates based upon advised cut-points were found to be higher for the revised than for the conventional scoring scheme, and this difference remained when allowance was made for the duration for which disorders had been present prior to assessment with the GHQ. However, Relative Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis revealed that while both forms of scoring the GHQ discriminated affective conditions (with or without allowance for their duration) there was no significant difference in their ability to do so. The justification therefore for the post-hoc interpretation of certain item responses as indicators of enduring affective states remains controversial and an issue for future research.

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