title: The validation of the 12-item General Health Questionnaire among ethnic Indian women living in the United Kingdom.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) has been validated in different languages and cultures and in diverse settings. However, the validity of the 12-item version, increasingly used for screening for psychiatric morbidity in primary care, has not been established among ethnic Indians living in the United Kingdom.
  
  
  METHODS
  The GHQ-12 was used to screen for psychiatric morbidity in a study of patterns of consultation and explanatory models of mental illness in a general practice in West London. All individuals who scored 2 or more and an equal number of individuals who scored 0 or 1 were interviewed using the Revised Clinical Interview Schedule (CIS-R) to confirm psychiatric morbidity. Hindi versions of the both these instruments were also employed. Thresholds of GHQ were compared against the standard of the CIS-R using the recommended threshold of 12 and above as indicating caseness. A receiver operator characteristic curve was drawn to obtain the best threshold value for screening.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The optimal threshold for screening as assessed by receiver operator characteristic analysis was 2/3. This threshold had a sensitivity of 96.7% and a specificity of 90%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The sensitivity and specificity of the 12-item General Health Questionnaire among women of ethnic Indian origin living in the United Kingdom is high. It can be employed as a screening instrument to identify individuals with psychiatric morbidity in this population.
authors.affiliation: Section of Epidemiology and General Practice, Institute of Psychiatry, London.
authors.forename: K S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Jacob
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bhugra
authors.forename: A H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Mann
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000208:ethnology; D008131:London; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000208:ethnology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000379:methods; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000592:standards*; D012372:ROC Curve; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012494:Sampling Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*