Reliability and validity of the Thai version of the Health of the Nation Outcome Scales (hoNOS).
BACKGROUND
Measurement in psychiatric services is important for the development of a psychiatric tool for budget allocation.


OBJECTIVE
To translate the Health of the Nation Outcome Scales (HoNOS) into Thai and to assess its psychometric properties.


METHODS
The HoNOS was translated into Thai, by using the standard of "forward-backward" translation procedure. Two psychiatric nurses interviewed subjects together but independently rated their scores. The subjects were 23 acute inpatients and 23 sub-acute inpatients. The reliability and validity was assessed.


RESULTS
The Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the Thai HoNOS was 0.68. It had a high correlation (r > 0.80) with the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) and the Clinical Global Impression (CGI). It suggested high concurrent validity. It had a satisfactory power (p < 0.05) in discriminating overall clinical outcomes between acute and sub-acute psychiatric inpatients.


CONCLUSIONS
The Thai HoNOS fulfils the requirements of a psychiatric outcome scale for routine use in inpatient service.
Phuaphanprasert
Bupawan
B
Suan Prung Psychiatric Hospital, Muang, Chiang Mai, Thailand. bupawan@gmail.com
Srisurapanont
Manit
M
Silpakit
Chatchawan
C
Pannarunothai
Supasit
S
Udomratn
Pichet
P
Geater
Alan
A
Prapaphomrn
Prayad
P
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000628:therapy; D008875:Middle Aged; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D011568:Psychiatric Nursing; D011581:Psychological Tests; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013785:Thailand; D016896:Treatment Outcome