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Validity of the scaled version of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) in a Spanish population

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Antonio Lobo ,
Maria Jesús Pérez-Echeverría  and
Jesus Artal
Antonio Lobo*
Affiliation:
Departamento de Psiquiatria y Psicología Médica, Facultad de Medicina, Zaragoza, Spain
Maria Jesús Pérez-Echeverría
Affiliation:
Departamento de Psiquiatria y Psicología Médica, Facultad de Medicina, Zaragoza, Spain
Jesus Artal
Affiliation:
Departamento de Psiquiatria y Psicología Médica, Facultad de Medicina, Zaragoza, Spain
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr A. Lobo, Profesor Titular, Departamento de Psiquiatría, Hospital Clinico Universitario, 50009 Zaragoza Spain
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Synopsis

This study confirms the validity of a Spanish version of the General Health Questionnaire in its scaled 28-item version. The screening instrument was tested on a sample of 100 patients attending an internal medicine out-patient clinic, who were examined independently by psychiatrists standardized in the use of the Clinical Interview Schedule (CIS). The questionnaire correctly identified 85% of “cases” with a cutting score of 6/7 (sensitivity 76·9%, specificity 90·2%), and 83% of cases with a cutting score of 5/6 (sensitivity 84·6%, specificity 82%), suggesting a discriminative power almost as good as the Spanish GHQ-60. It has the important advantage of being considerably shorter and, although the 4 subscales are by no means independent, its concurrent validity with CIS ratings suggests that they provide additional information concerning anxiety and depression.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 16 , Issue 1 , February 1986 , pp. 135 - 140
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1986

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