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A study of the validity of the scaled version of the General Health Questionnaire in paralysed spinally injured out-patients

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

T. C. Griffiths ,
D. H. Myers  and
A. W. Talbot
T. C. Griffiths
Affiliation:
West Midlands Spinal Injuries Unit; Department of Psychiatry, Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, Shrewsbury
D. H. Myers*
Affiliation:
West Midlands Spinal Injuries Unit; Department of Psychiatry, Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, Shrewsbury
A. W. Talbot
Affiliation:
West Midlands Spinal Injuries Unit; Department of Psychiatry, Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, Shrewsbury
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr D. H. Myers, The Royal Shrewsbury Hospital (Shelton), Shrewsbury SY3 8DN.
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Synopsis

This study validates the GHQ-28 on a sample of paralysed, spinally injured outpatients under the care of the West Midlands Spinal Injuries Unit. The validity of the GHQ-28 was 0·83 (95% confidence interval: 0·70 to 0·93) using the Clinical Interview Schedule (CIS) as the validating criterion. The effectiveness of the GHQ-28 as a screening instrument using CIS 11/12 as case criterion, and thus a prevalence rate of 0·18, was judged by relative operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. The area under the ROC curve was 0·91±0·03. “Optimum’ discrimination occurred near GHQ 3/4 (0011 scoring scheme) giving a sensitivity of 0·81, a specificity of 0·82 and a misclassification rate of 18%.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 23 , Issue 2 , May 1993 , pp. 497 - 504
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

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