Psychometric properties of the Patient Health Questionnaire-15 (PHQ-15) for measuring the somatic symptoms of psychiatric outpatients.
BACKGROUND
About 2% to 5% of all primary-care patients have a somatization disorder, and somatic symptoms are strongly associated with comorbid depression and anxiety disorders.


OBJECTIVE
The authors evaluated the validity of the 15-item Somatization module of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-15) among psychiatric outpatients.


METHODS
The PHQ-15 was administered to patients with somatic complaints; it was compared with the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12). Fifty-seven Korean subjects completed the survey.


RESULTS
The PHQ-15 exhibited significant internal consistency, and test-retest reliability. Convergent validity with the BDI and GHQ-12 were positive.


CONCLUSIONS
These results indicate that the Korean version of the PHQ-15 is appropriate for measuring the severity of somatic symptoms in a psychiatric outpatient setting.
Han
Changsu
C
Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, Korea University Medical Center, Ansan City, Gyunggi Province, South Korea. hancs@korea.ac.kr
Pae
Chi-Un
CU
Patkar
Ashwin A
AA
Masand
Prakash S
PS
Kim
Ki Woong
KW
Joe
Sook-Haeng
SH
Jung
In-Kwa
IK
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological / Q000379:methods; D007723:Korea; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010045:Outpatients / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics; D011602:Psychophysiologic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D055815:Young Adult