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Validation of the 30-item General Health Questionnaire in early pregnancy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Deborah J. Sharp
Deborah J. Sharp*
Affiliation:
Department of General Practice, UMDS – St Thomas Campus, London
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr Deborah J. Sharp, Department of General Practice, UMDS - St Thomas Campus, 80 Kennington Road, London SE11.
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Synopsis

One-hundred-and-seventy-nine women attending their first antenatal clinic at two general practices in South London were asked to complete the 30-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-30) as part of a larger prospective longitudinal study into childbirth-related affective disorders. The women were later interviewed at home and a standardized psychiatric interview administered. Relative operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to determine the optimum cut-off point on the GHQ-30. Thirty-five per cent of the women were high scorers on the GHQ-30 (≥6) and 29% were found to be ‘cases’ at interview (CIS Overall Severity Rating ≥2).

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 18 , Issue 2 , May 1988 , pp. 503 - 507
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

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