title: The Afghan symptom checklist: a culturally grounded approach to mental health assessment in a conflict zone.
abstract: This article describes a methodology for developing culturally grounded assessment measures in conflict and postconflict situations. A mixed-method design was used in Kabul, Afghanistan, to identify local indicators of distress and develop the 22-item Afghan Symptom Checklist (ASCL). The ASCL contains several indigenous items and items familiar to Western mental health professionals. The ASCL was pilot tested and subsequently administered to 324 adults in 8 districts of Kabul. It demonstrated excellent reliability (alpha=.93) and good construct validity, correlating strongly with a measure of exposure to war-related violence and loss (r=.70). Results of the survey indicate moderate levels of distress among Afghan men and markedly higher levels of distress and impaired functioning among women (and widows in particular).
authors.affiliation: Psychology Department, Pomona College.
authors.forename: Kenneth E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Omidian
authors.forename: Abdul Samad
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Quraishy
authors.forename: Naseema
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Quraishy
authors.forename: Mohammed Nader
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Nasiry
authors.forename: Seema
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nasiry
authors.forename: Nazar Mohammed
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Karyar
authors.forename: Abdul Aziz
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Yaqubi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000346:Afghanistan; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D003906:Developing Countries; D005260:Female; D006117:Grief; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010552:Personality Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012737:Sex Factors; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology; D040921:Stress Disorders, Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology*; D014754:Violence / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology; D014857:Warfare