title: Reliability and validity of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) among urological patients: a Malaysian study.
abstract: This present study was undertaken to validate the English version of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) in urological patients. Validity and reliability were studied in patients with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) and patients without LUTS. Reliability was evaluated using the test-retest method and internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach's alpha. Sensitivity to change was expressed as the effect size in the pre-intervention versus post-intervention score in additional patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) who underwent transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP). Internal consistency was excellent. A high degree of internal consistency was observed for each of the 12 items with Cronbach's alpha value of 0.37-0.79, while total scores was 0.79 in the population study. Test-retest correlation coefficient for the 12 items score were highly significant. Intraclass correlation coefficient was high (0.35-0.79). It showed a high degree of sensitivity and specificity to the effects of treatment. A high degree of significant level between baseline and post-treatment scores were observed across all 12 items in the treatment cohort but not in the control group. The GHQ-12 is suitable, reliable, valid and sensitive to clinical change in urological disorders.
authors.affiliation: Health Research Development Unit, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: K F
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Quek
authors.forename: W Y
authors.initials: WY
authors.lastname: Low
authors.forename: A H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Razack
authors.forename: C S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Loh
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D006801:Humans; D007669:Kidney Calculi / Q000523:psychology; D008296:Malaysia; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011470:Prostatic Hyperplasia / Q000523:psychology* / Q000601:surgery; D011788:Quality of Life; D012016:Reference Values; D020728:Transurethral Resection of Prostate / Q000523:psychology*; D001748:Urinary Bladder Neck Obstruction / Q000523:psychology* / Q000601:surgery