Who needs treatment? A nationwide psychiatric case identification study.
'Case' identification has been considered a major issue in cross-sectional psychiatric epidemiologic surveys. The question is: what is a 'case' and how reliable and valid can criteria be selected? This paper deals with this issue with respect to our experience obtained from a cross-sectional home survey on psychosocial issues and mental health carried out in Greece, with a nationwide probability sample of 4,292 respondents. Mental health status was assessed by use of the CES-D and Langner scales. A high proportion (29%) of respondents was characterized by a degree of mental impairment scoring above the cut-off points in both scales. In order to identify the true psychiatric 'cases', a total of 9 clinical and help-seeking criteria were selected after examining their discriminant power. Finally, a much lower proportion of the sample was identified as probable (7.2%) and definite (8.0%) psychiatric cases in need of care.
Madianos
M G
MG
Department of Psychiatry Medical School, University of Athens, Greece.
Stefanis
C N
CN
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006115:Greece; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales