Validity indices of the General Health Questionnaire among general hospital inpatients

ObjectiveOriginally, the General Health Questionnaire (= GHQ) was designed to detect mental disorders among general medical outpatients and in community. The aim of the present survey is to compare the criterion validity indices of three different GHQ versions among general hospital inpatients when using different scoring methods.MethodThe GHQ-30 was filled in by inpatients prior to the research interview. For psychiatric case-identifiation the Clinical Interview Schedule was performed by three research psychiatrists.ResultsThe final sample consisted of 993 inpatients. When comparing the three different GHQ-versions, no significant differences were found in OMR and ROC-AUC as well as in sensitivity (0,612–0,701) and specificity (0,601–0759). When comparing the four scoring methods no significant differences were found in sensitivity. By contrast, OMR and specificity showed better indices for the 20 item and 12 item GHQ versions when using the bimodal and modified Lickert scoring method. Further, the Lickert scoring method showed no significant differences to the other scoring methods for the GHQ-30, where as the modified Lickert and the bimodal method showed lower OMR and higher specificity compared to the chronic method.ConclusionDue to the results of this survey, the future use of the chronic scoring method for the GHQ has to be questioned when used for general hospital inpatients.

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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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A comparison of the validity of two psychiatric screening questionnaires: the Arabic General Health Questionnaire (AGHQ) and Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-20) in UAE, using Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis

European Psychiatry ◽

10.1016/s0924-9338(01)00550-8 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 16 (2) ◽

pp. 122-126 ◽

Cited By ~ 82

Author(s):

R. Ghubash ◽

T. Daradkeh ◽

O.F. El-Rufaie ◽

M.T. Abou-Saleh

Keyword(s):

Receiver Operating Characteristic ◽

United Arab Emirates ◽

General Health ◽

Roc Analysis ◽

Operating Characteristic ◽

General Health Questionnaire ◽

Health Questionnaire ◽

Validity Indices ◽

Self Reporting Questionnaire ◽

Receiver Operating

AbstractThis study compared the ability of the Arabic General Health questionnaire (AGHQ) and Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-20) to screen ICD-10 psychiatric disorders in an Arab community in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates. Standardised psychiatric assessments of subjects using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) were carried out. The Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to determine validity indices for the AGHQ and SRQ-20. For the AGHQ, sensitivity, specificity and area under the curve (AUC) were 86, 85 and 93% respectively, while for the SRQ-20, validity indices were 83, 83 and 90% respectively. Overall performance of the AGHQ was significantly better than the SRQ-20, especially in males and those under the age of 30 years. We conclude that both questionnaires are valid screening instruments in an Arab community in the UAE.

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