BACKGROUND Measurement equivalence is an essential prerequisite for making valid comparisons in mental health questionnaires across groups. In most methods used for assessing measurement equivalence, which is known as Differential Item Functioning (DIF), latent variables are assumed to be continuous. OBJECTIVE To compare a new method called Latent Class Regression (LCR) designed for discrete ...

BACKGROUND Nurses constitute the most providers of health care systems. Their mental health can affect the quality of services and patients' satisfaction. General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) is a general screening tool used to detect mental disorders. Scoring method and determining thresholds for this questionnaire are debatable and the cut-off points can vary from sample to sample. This stud...

BACKGROUND Given that validity is the baseline of psychological assessments, there is a need to provide evidence-based data for construct validity of such scales to advance the clinicians for evaluating psychiatric morbidity in psychiatric and psychosomatic setting. METHODS This comparative cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the construct validity of the Malaysian version of the GHQ-2...

OBJECTIVES The general health questionnaire (GHQ) is commonly used to assess symptoms of common mental disorder (CMD). Prevalence estimates for CMD caseness from UK population studies are thought to be in the range of 14-17%, and the UK occupational studies of which we are aware indicate a higher prevalence. This review will synthesise the existing research using the GHQ from both population an...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the contribution of psychological symptoms to limited employability for medical reasons in the British Armed Forces. METHODS A sample of 4500 military personnel was randomly selected to receive either a full or an abridged questionnaire. The questionnaires asked whether the participant was medically downgraded and if yes, the reason for it. The full questionnaire incl...

BACKGROUND Most mental health research tools are developed in Western, urban contexts. Few studies have evaluated the applicability of these research tools in rural populations of non-Western countries. We examined the cultural acceptance and psychometric performance of the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) in China's rural villages. METHOD Ethnographic investigations were conducted ...

BACKGROUND Little is known about psychological risk factors in cerebrovascular disease. We examined the association between psychological distress and risk of death due to cerebrovascular disease. METHODS We obtained data from 68 652 adult participants of the Health Survey for England (mean age 54.9 [standard deviation 13.9] yr, 45.0% male sex) with no known history of cardiovascular diseases...

BACKGROUND Well-being is an important determinant of health and social outcomes. Measures of positive mental health states are needed for population-based research. The 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) has been widely used in many settings and languages, and includes positively and negatively worded items. Our aim was to test the hypothesis that the GHQ-12 assesses both positive an...

OBJECTIVES To explore the current psychological problems among Iraqi medical and dentistry students using a General Health Questionnaire after 6 years of armed conflicts. METHODS This study was carried out in the Department of Pharmacology, College of Medicine, Al-Mustansiriya University, Baghdad, Iraq from January to May 2009. A total of 440 medical and dentistry students were asked to compl...

OBJECTIVES More mental morbidities were reported in medical students than their nonmedical peers, which may negatively influence their lives and future career. The aim of this study was to assess the mental health status among medical students of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. METHOD Two hundred and eight 1(st) to 4(th) year Medical students took part in this cross-sectional study. Ge...