Ethno-psychometric evaluation of the General Health Questionnaire in rural China.
BACKGROUND
Most mental health research tools are developed in Western, urban contexts. Few studies have evaluated the applicability of these research tools in rural populations of non-Western countries. We examined the cultural acceptance and psychometric performance of the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) in China's rural villages.


METHODS
Ethnographic investigations were conducted to assess the cultural applicability of self-report rating scales among villagers. This was followed by a survey of 1401 rural residents, randomly selected from 48 villages of Shandong province using stratified multistage cluster sampling. The respondents were administered the GHQ and the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI).


RESULTS
The GHQ, when administered by trained interviewers, was culturally acceptable to rural residents. The scale had good psychometric properties in the study population. The area under the curve was 0.86. At a cut-off of 1/2, the sensitivity and specificity were 80.6% and 79.3% respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
The ethno-psychometric evaluation showed that the GHQ was both culturally valid and psychometrically sound in the Chinese rural context.
Lee
Dominic T S
DT
Department of Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. dominiclee@cuhk.edu.hk
Yip
Winnie C M
WC
Chen
Yenfong
Y
Meng
Qingyue
Q
Kleinman
Arthur
A
D000328:Adult; D000884:Anthropology, Cultural; D019540:Area Under Curve; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012424:Rural Population; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity