scholarly journals Teenage Pregnancy: Doubts, Uncertainties and Psychiatric Disturbance

1991 ◽  
Vol 84 (12) ◽  
pp. 723-725 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean Maskey

Fifty-two pregnant teenagers were assessed at ‘booking’ using the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ 28), a locus of control scale, and five visual analogue ‘attitude scales’. Thirty-eight were in the antenatal and 14 in the termination clinic. One quarter had probable psychiatric disorder on the GHQ. The GHQ scores correlated significantly with indecision about the planned outcome of pregnancy (whether termination or full term). Locus of control correlated with the Depression scale of the GHQ but not with attitude to pregnancy or choice of termination or delivery. Clinic staff should be alert to the psychiatric risks when seeing teenagers who have marked doubts about their plans when pregnant.

1982 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 409-413 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. N. Nott ◽  
S. Cutts

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.


1977 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 459-464 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brenda M. Rutter

SynopsisThirty chronic bronchitic patients with severe airways obstruction were individually matched with non-bronchitic controls from the general population. The 2 groups were compared using the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) to assess non-psychotic psychiatric disturbance, the Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI) to assess personality traits, and the Marlowe–Crowne (M–C) scale plus the L (Lie) scale of the EPI to assess social-desirability response set. Chronic bronchitic patients were both more psychiatrically disturbed and more neurotic in personality than were their matched controls; but there were no differences between the 2 groups on the personality trait of extraversion or on measure of social desirability response set. The results are discussed in the context of both chronic bronchitis specifically and chronic illness in general, and future investigations are proposed.


1990 ◽  
Vol 157 (6) ◽  
pp. 860-864 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glyn Lewis ◽  
Simon Wessely

The specificity and sensitivity of the HAD, 12-item GHQ and CIS were calculated by comparing the scores of dermatological patients on these tests with a criterion measure of disorder. Since psychiatry, along with many other branches of medicine, does not have an error-free criterion, it was assumed that the criterion was an underlying latent construct which was measured by all of the tests and could be derived by factor analysis from the scores on them. No differences were found between the two questionnaires (HAD and GHQ) in their ability to detect cases of minor psychiatric disorder although they were somewhat less reliable than the CIS.


1979 ◽  
Vol 134 (6) ◽  
pp. 609-616 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert A. Finlay-Jones ◽  
Elaine Murphy

SummaryThe 30-item General Health Questionnaire misclassified 26 per cent of respondents in two samples of women who were interviewed by a psychiatrist using the Present State Examination. False negatives were likely to be women with chronic disorders, particularly anxiety states. False positives were likely to be distressed by severe physical illness, a recent adverse life event, or loneliness. Applying a higher threshold score to their GHQ, responses would help to separate those with a diagnosable psychiatric disorder from those in states of distress.


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.


1988 ◽  
Vol 152 (6) ◽  
pp. 807-812 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Lobo ◽  
Maria-Jesús Pérez-Echeverría ◽  
Antonio Jiménez-Aznárez ◽  
Maria-Antonia Sancho

The 28-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) has been validated against the criterion of the Clinical Interview Schedule (CIS) in Spanish patients in hospital with several types of endocrinological illnesses. The screening instrument correctly identified 91 of 100 respondents as exhibiting psychiatric disorder. The questionnaire's efficacy was similar at the time of medical discharge, when the rate of disorder was significantly lower. Significant correlations were found between GHQ total scores and endocrine blood measures in Addison's disease, and in Type I diabetes. The four subscales of the GHQ sum to provide additional information concerning somatic symptoms and anxiety.


1988 ◽  
Vol 152 (6) ◽  
pp. 799-806 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter J. Cooper ◽  
Elizabeth A. Campbell ◽  
Ann Day ◽  
Helen Kennerley ◽  
Alison Bond

The psychiatric state of 483 women was examined antenatally and at 3, 6, and 12 months postpartum. Comprehensive assessments were made of all women antenatally and of subgroups of the full sample postnatally. Psychiatric state was assessed using the General Health Questionnaire, the Present State Examination and the Montgomery and åsberg Depression Rating Scale. In terms of PSE criteria, the point prevalence of non-psychotic psychiatric disorder antenatally was found to be 6.0%; and postnatally it was estimated to be 8.7% at 3 months, 8.8% at 6 months and 5.2% at 12 months after delivery. These prevalence rates were compared to the rate in a general population sample of non-puerperal women and found to be no greater. In a subgroup of the full sample, the incidence of psychiatric disorder in the year following delivery was estimated to be 15.1%, which is close to a figure previously reported for women in the community. The onset of psychiatric disturbance was soon after delivery in most instances; and, for the majority, the episode of disturbance lasted for 3 months or less. The distribution of PSE Catego classes and syndromes among the antenatal and postnatal samples were found to be similar to those in the non-puerperal comparison sample. Thus, the prevalence, incidence, and nature of non-psychotic psychiatric disorder in the 12 months following delivery do not appear to distinguish it from such disorders arising at other times.


2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. s508-s508
Author(s):  
L. Utas Akahn

BackgroundFor most of the physical illnesses, behavioral, emotional, cognitive and inter-personal reactions develop. These psychiatric conditions and reactions are actually the adjustment process of the organism.ObjectivesStudy is conducted in order to identify the psychiatric signs as well as findings of the patients who receive treatment in the general services of hospitals.MethodsThe study was carried out with a total of 500 patients who receive treatment in the general service of a hospital of a ministry of health in Turkey between February and May in 2015 by descriptive cross-sectional method. For collecting the data; patient charts, SCL 90-Rand general health questionnaire as well as hospital anxiety and depression scale were utilized. Kolmogorov Smirnov Normality test was applied for the average SCL90R and general health. Questionnaire, as a result of the test, it was detected that both scales did not meet the assumption of normality Therefore, Kruskal Wallis test of non-parametric was used.ResultsThe study showed no significant difference among the lengths of stay in the hospital according to the average SCL90-R and general health questionnaire It was observed that the patients in the cardiology, neurology, and plastic surgery departments had a higher rate of signs of obsessive compulsive disorders; that the patients in the plastic surgery and internal diseases departments had a higher rate of depressive signs; that the patients in the neurology and plastic surgery departments had a higher rate of paranoid ideation; and that the patients in the neurology service had a higher rate of psychoticism.ConclusionsOverall, it has been observed that the patients hospitalized in the neurology and plastic surgery services had more physiological signs compared to those receiving treatment in the other services.Disclosure of interestThe author has not supplied his declaration of competing interest.


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