title: Validity of the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25 amongst HIV-positive pregnant women in Tanzania.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To validate the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25 (HSCL-25) for use as a depression screen amongst human immuno-deficiency virus (HIV) positive pregnant women.
  
  
  METHODS
  Amongst 903 (mean age 24.8 years) HIV-positive pregnant women, a two-phased design included measures for health-related quality of life, perceived social support, and the HSCL-25 screen for depressive (HSCL-15 subscale) and anxiety symptoms. The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID) was independently administered on a stratified random subsample.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Internal consistency of the HSCL-25 (alpha 0.93) and HSCL-15 (alpha 0.9) was adequate, with expected findings demonstrated in discriminant validity analysis. A depression-anxiety construct explained nearly 40% of the variance. Eight individual HSCL-25 items demonstrated an area under the curve (AUC) greater than 0.6 for DSM-IV major depression and the HSCL-25 and HSCL-revised had an optimal depression cut-off score of 1.06 and 1.03 for the HSCL-15.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The HSCL-25 demonstrated utility as a screen for depression; its inability to gauge severity of symptoms in this cultural context is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Muhimbili University College of Health Sciences, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. skaaya@muchs.ac.tz
authors.forename: S F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Kaaya
authors.forename: M C S
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Fawzi
authors.forename: J K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Mbwambo
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: G I
authors.initials: GI
authors.lastname: Msamanga
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Fawzi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life; D012944:Social Support; D013636:Tanzania / Q000208:ethnology