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Severity of symptoms of psychiatric outpatients: use of the General Health Questionnaire in hospital and general practice patients

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

A. C. P. Sims  and
P. H. Salmons
A. C. P. Sims
Affiliation:
Saints Hospital, Birmingham
P. H. Salmons
Affiliation:
Saints Hospital, Birmingham
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Synopsis

A sample of 91 new referrals to a community based psychiatric outpatient service was compared with a cross-matched control sample of 107 patients attending the general practitioner's surgery. The subjects in both groups completed the General Health Questionnaire and there was a very marked difference between the scores of the two groups. Seventy-five of the psychiatric group had a high score on the questionnaire, and a large number of these were extremely high, while 74 of the general practice group had a low score. The ‘false’ positives and negatives are discussed. It is considered that the validity of this questionnaire as a screening device for demonstrating psychiatric morbidity and severity in general practice is further established in this study by showing that in matched samples the expected psychiatric morbidity in general practice can be compared with the much greater morbidity in psychiatric outpatient referrals. For the psychiatric sample more patients showed high scores and these tended to be much higher.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 5 , Issue 1 , February 1975 , pp. 62 - 66
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1975

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References

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