The use of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) to estimate prevalence of psychiatric disorder in early pregnancy

Swallow, Brian; Lindow, S. W.; Masson, E. A.; Hay, David M.

doi:10.1080/1354850031000087591

Cited by 44 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…There are two methods of scoring the questionnaire: the GHQ scaling method (0, 0, 1, 1) and the Likert scaling method (0, 1, 2, 3). The former is appropriate for recognizing nonpsychotic psychiatric cases and the latter for survey research (Swallow, Lindow, Masson, and Hay, 2003). For differentiating psychiatric from nonpsychiatric cases the GHQ scoring system with a cutoff point of 4 or more is usually used.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mental health problems among internally displaced persons in Darfur

Hamid

Musa

2010

Int J Psychol

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War victims are regarded as one of the highest risk groups for mental disturbances. This study investigated the effects of the Darfur conflict on mental health of 430 internally displaced persons (IDPs) from three camps located around Fasher and Nyala towns. A stratified random sampling technique was used to select participants. Male participants represented 50.6% of the sample while female participants represented 49.4%. The Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) were used in addition to a questionnaire measuring demographic variables and living conditions. It was hypothesized that high prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and of nonpsychotic psychiatric symptoms will be evident. Results showed a high dissatisfaction rate (72%) with living conditions among IDPs. There was also high prevalence of PTSD (54%) and general distress (70%) among IDPs. Female participants showed more somatic symptoms than their male counterparts. Married participants were more distressed, anxious, and showed more social dysfunction, while single ones reported more avoidance symptoms. Significant differences related to date of displacement were found in PTSD and hyperarousal. The group of IDPs displaced in 2003 scored higher on these scales than those displaced in 2004 and 2005. There was also significant difference related to date of displacement in distress, somatic symptoms, depression, anxiety, and social dysfunction. IDPs displaced in 2003 scored higher on these scales. Results are discussed in light of the study hypotheses and previous findings. It is concluded that three factors might affect the dissatisfaction of IDPs with living conditions inside camps. These are: lack of employment, unsuitability of food items, and lack of security around camps. It was recommended that psychological support services should be among the prime relief services provided by aid agencies.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mental health problems among internally displaced persons in Darfur

Hamid

Musa

2010

Int J Psychol

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“…STAI: ‘I feel rested’ or ‘I feel comfortable’). These may inflate anxiety scores in postpartum populations (Meades and Ayers 2011) and increase the likelihood of false positives (Swallow et al 2003). Furthermore, symptoms of anxiety occurring in the postpartum may have distinct presentations which are not encompassed by items in general scales (Meades and Ayers 2011; Phillips et al 2009); this limitation has been addressed when examining anxieties occurring in pregnancy (Van den Bergh 1990; Levin 1991; Wadwha et al 1993; Huizink et al 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Postpartum Specific Anxiety Scale: development and preliminary validation

Fallon

Halford

Bennett

et al. 2016

Arch Womens Ment Health

119

126

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Perinatal symptoms of anxiety are increasingly recognised due to their high prevalence and impact. Studies using pregnancy-specific anxiety measures have found that they may predict perinatal outcomes more effectively than general measures. However, no such measure exists to assess anxieties specific to the postpartum. This study aimed to develop and validate a measure (Postpartum Specific Anxiety Scale; PSAS) that accurately represents the specific anxieties faced by postpartum women, using a four-stage methodology: (1) 51 items were generated from interviews conducted with a group of 19 postpartum women at two time points, (2) the scale was reviewed and refined by a diverse expert panel, (3) an online pilot study (n = 146) was conducted to assess comprehensibility and acceptability and (4) an online sample of 1282 mothers of infants up to 6 months old completed the PSAS against a battery of convergent measures. A subsample (n = 262) repeated the PSAS 2 weeks later. The PSAS possessed good face and content validity and was comprehensible and acceptable to postpartum women. PSAS scores were significantly correlated with other measures indicating good convergent validity. Principal component analyses (PCA) revealed a simple four-factor structure. Reliability of the overall scale and individual PSAS factors proved to be good to excellent. A preliminary receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis also suggested that the PSAS may be a useful screening tool. The psychometric evidence suggests that the PSAS is an acceptable, valid, and reliable research tool to assess anxieties, which are specific to the postpartum period. Next steps in the iterative validation process are considered for both research and screening purposes.

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“…It is common for measures of anxiety that have been developed for the general population, such as the Beck Anxiety Inventory (Beck and Steer, 1993) and the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (Lovibond and Lovibond, 1995a), to be used to classify perinatal women according to established severity ranges. However, these measures are limited at indicating the severity of anxiety in the perinatal period because (1) the cut-off scores may not have been validated in perinatal samples, (2) scores may be confounded by physical symptoms that occur commonly in pregnancy or postnatally (Swallow et al, 2003), as scales include items about physical symptoms of anxiety (e.g., 'I experienced breathing difficulty' (Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale, Lovibond and Lovibond, 1995a), 'discomfort in abdomen', 'difficulty breathing' (Beck Anxiety Inventory;Beck and Steer, 1993)), and (3) pregnancy-specific anxieties (e.g., severe fear of childbirth) are not addressed. Measures developed to assess perinatal anxiety, such as the Pregnancy Anxiety Scale (Levin, 1991), Pregnancy Related Anxiety Questionnaire ( Van den Bergh, 1989), and Pregnancy Related Anxiety Scale (Wadhwa et al, 1993), are also limited at indicating severity of anxiety in the perinatal period because they assess narrow domains of perinatal anxiety such as the mother's fears about the birth, the pregnancy and the baby's health and safety (see Somerville et al (2014) for summary).…”

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confidence: 99%