TY - JOUR
T1 - Adaptation and validation of short scales for assessment of psychological distress in Iran
T2 - The Persian K10 and K6
AU - Hajebi, Ahmad
AU - Motevalian, Abbas
AU - Amin-Esmaeili, Masoumeh
AU - Rahimi-Movaghar, Afarin
AU - Sharifi, Vandad
AU - Hoseini, Leila
AU - Shadloo, Behrang
AU - Mojtabai, Ramin
N1 - Funding Information:
The study was conducted with the support of the Iranian Ministry of Health and the research deputy of the Tehran University of Medical Sciences through the contract number 2589/130. The authors wish to express their appreciation to Dr. Ronald Kessler and the WHO anonymous reviewers who provided invaluable feedback on the Persian translation of K10. We would like to thank Dr. Mahdavi for conducting the telephone interviews using SCID and field managers Fariba Rezai, Shohreh Nasr, and Leila Moazami from Shiraz, Zanjan, and Tehran Universities of Medical Sciences. We would also like to thank the interviewers Sara Ansari, Tahereh Ghanbarian, Zahra Asgari Kouchi, and Mehdi Janbazi from Shirza; Parisa Molaei and Abolfaz Babaei from Zanjan; and Farideh Kolahi Heshmat from Tehran for their contribution in data gathering. We also wish to express our gratitude to Roya Azadi for data entry and to Kebria Adli and Mansoureh Azami for their administrative assistance.
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
PY - 2018/9
Y1 - 2018/9
N2 - Objectives: The aims of the study were to translate into Persian and culturally adapt the Kessler Psychological Distress Scales, K10 and K6, and to assess their reliability and validity. Method: The sample was recruited from primary health care (PHC) settings by quota nonprobability sampling, stratified by sex and age. Validity was assessed against the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (v2.1). The psychometric properties of K6 and K10 were also compared with the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). Results: A total of 818 participants completed the questionnaire. Cronbach's alpha were 0.92 and 0.87 for K6 and K10, respectively. Optimal cutoff scores for detecting any mood or anxiety disorder in the past 30 days were 15 for K10 and 10 for K6. At these cutoff points, the measures had sensitivities of 0.77 and 0.73, specificities of 0.74 and 0.78, and positive predictive values of 0.48 and 0.52, respectively. Psychometric properties of K10 and K6 were similar to GHQ-12. Conclusion: Persian K10 and K6 have acceptable psychometric properties as screening instruments for common mental health conditions. Given its brevity and similar psychometric properties to the longer instruments, the Persian K6 appears to be a suitable scale for use in PHC settings and, possibly, epidemiologic studies in Iran.
AB - Objectives: The aims of the study were to translate into Persian and culturally adapt the Kessler Psychological Distress Scales, K10 and K6, and to assess their reliability and validity. Method: The sample was recruited from primary health care (PHC) settings by quota nonprobability sampling, stratified by sex and age. Validity was assessed against the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (v2.1). The psychometric properties of K6 and K10 were also compared with the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). Results: A total of 818 participants completed the questionnaire. Cronbach's alpha were 0.92 and 0.87 for K6 and K10, respectively. Optimal cutoff scores for detecting any mood or anxiety disorder in the past 30 days were 15 for K10 and 10 for K6. At these cutoff points, the measures had sensitivities of 0.77 and 0.73, specificities of 0.74 and 0.78, and positive predictive values of 0.48 and 0.52, respectively. Psychometric properties of K10 and K6 were similar to GHQ-12. Conclusion: Persian K10 and K6 have acceptable psychometric properties as screening instruments for common mental health conditions. Given its brevity and similar psychometric properties to the longer instruments, the Persian K6 appears to be a suitable scale for use in PHC settings and, possibly, epidemiologic studies in Iran.
KW - Kessler Psychological Distress Scale
KW - Persian
KW - mental illness
KW - screening
KW - validation study
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U2 - 10.1002/mpr.1726
DO - 10.1002/mpr.1726
M3 - Article
C2 - 29888523
AN - SCOPUS:85052752948
SN - 1049-8931
VL - 27
JO - International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research
JF - International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research
IS - 3
M1 - e1726
ER -