VALIDITY STUDY OF THE SELF-REPORTING QUESTIONNAIRE (SRQ-20) IN PRIMARY HEALTH-CARE IN THE UNITED-ARAB-EMIRATES

A study to determine the best cut-off point for caseness of the Arabic version of the self-reporting questionnaire, SRQ-20 (Harding et al., 1980) and to test its validity against the criterion of the Clinical I nterview Schedule (CIS) (Goldberg et al., 1970) was carried out at a p rimary health care centre in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.). A sample of 217 patients were screened using the SRQ-20 and all patients were then interviewed by a psychiatrist. A cut-off point at 5/6 was t he score which produced a blanced combination of sensitivity and speci ficity that would maximize predictability and minimize misclassificati on at various prevalence rates expected in the population screened. Th e study also furnished evidence that the Arabic version of the SQR-20, was a valid instrument for detecting minor psychiatric morbidity in p rimary health care settings. Its sensitivity in the entire sample was 78.3% with specificity of 75.2%. However, there were variations of sen sitivity and specificity between males and females and between literat e and illiterate individuals. Two subsets of items were selected from the whole SRQ-20 items; one by multiple regression technique and one a ccording to highest sensitivity measures. Both subsets provided better validity rates than the total 20 items. Comparison of somatic and psy chological items in terms of their ability to predict cases showed no significant difference