A scaled version of the General Health Questionnaire

Psychological MedicinePublished 1 February 1979

David Goldberg, V F Hillier

DOI10.1017/s0033291700021644

Source URL

Citations5,483

SJR quartileQ1

SJR score2.42

SNIP1.85

TL;DR

A shorter, 28-item GHQ is proposed consisting of 4 subscales: somatic symptoms, anxiety and insomnia, social dysfunction and severe depression, and the validity of these scales is presented.

Abstract

This study reports the factor structure of the symptoms comprising the General Health Questionnaire when it is completed in a primary care setting. A shorter, 28-item GHQ is proposed consisting of 4 subscales: somatic symptoms, anxiety and insomnia, social dysfunction and severe depression. Preliminary data concerning the validity of these scales are presented, and the performance of the whole 28-item questionnaire as a screening test is evaluated. The factor structure of the symptomatology is found to be very similar for 3 independent sets of data.

Keywords

Health Professions

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