title: Community-Based Validation of the Social Phobia Screener (SOPHS).
abstract: There is a need for brief, accurate screening scales for social anxiety disorder to enable better identification of the disorder in research and clinical settings. A five-item social anxiety screener, the Social Phobia Screener (SOPHS), was developed to address this need. The screener was validated in two samples: (a) 12,292 Australian young adults screened for a clinical trial, including 1,687 participants who completed a phone-based clinical interview and (b) 4,214 population-based Australian adults recruited online. The SOPHS (78% sensitivity, 72% specificity) was found to have comparable screening performance to the Social Phobia Inventory (77% sensitivity, 71% specificity) and Mini-Social Phobia Inventory (74% sensitivity, 73% specificity) relative to clinical criteria in the trial sample. In the population-based sample, the SOPHS was also accurate (95% sensitivity, 73% specificity) in identifying Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Fifth edition social anxiety disorder. The SOPHS is a valid and reliable screener for social anxiety that is freely available for use in research and clinical settings.
authors.affiliation: 1 The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
authors.forename: Philip J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Batterham
authors.affiliation: 2 The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: Andrew J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Mackinnon
authors.affiliation: 3 The University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Helen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Christensen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological / Q000592:standards*; D008297:Male; D000072861:Phobia, Social / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D011594:Psychometrics; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013689:Telephone; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: anxiety; measurement; screening; social anxiety disorder; social phobia