Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-mp689 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T21:51:59.270Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Screening for psychiatric disorders in an area affected by the Chernobyl disaster: the reliability and validity of three psychiatric screening questionnaires in Belarus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

J. M. Havenaar ,
N. W. Poelijoe ,
A. P. Kasyanenko ,
J. Van Den Bout ,
M. W. J. Koeter  and
V. V. Filipenko
J. M. Havenaar*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital of Utrecht, Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Utrecht and the Amsterdam Institute for Addiction Research, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Centre for Sociological Studies ‘Oracul’, Gomel and First Psychiatric Hospital of Gomel, Belarus
N. W. Poelijoe
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital of Utrecht, Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Utrecht and the Amsterdam Institute for Addiction Research, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Centre for Sociological Studies ‘Oracul’, Gomel and First Psychiatric Hospital of Gomel, Belarus
A. P. Kasyanenko
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital of Utrecht, Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Utrecht and the Amsterdam Institute for Addiction Research, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Centre for Sociological Studies ‘Oracul’, Gomel and First Psychiatric Hospital of Gomel, Belarus
J. Van Den Bout
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital of Utrecht, Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Utrecht and the Amsterdam Institute for Addiction Research, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Centre for Sociological Studies ‘Oracul’, Gomel and First Psychiatric Hospital of Gomel, Belarus
M. W. J. Koeter
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital of Utrecht, Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Utrecht and the Amsterdam Institute for Addiction Research, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Centre for Sociological Studies ‘Oracul’, Gomel and First Psychiatric Hospital of Gomel, Belarus
V. V. Filipenko
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital of Utrecht, Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Utrecht and the Amsterdam Institute for Addiction Research, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Centre for Sociological Studies ‘Oracul’, Gomel and First Psychiatric Hospital of Gomel, Belarus
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr J. M. Havenaar, University Hospital of Utrecht, Department of Psychiatry, Postbox 85500, 3508 GA Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Synopsis

The reliability and criterion validity of Russian versions of three psychiatric screening questionnaires (the General Health Questionnaire, 12-item version; the Goldberg scales for anxiety and depression; and, the Bradford Somatic Inventory) were assessed in the Gomel region (Belarus), one of the most severely contaminated areas that resulted from the nuclear power plant explosion at Chernobyl in 1986. All instruments were found to have good internal reliability indices. Retest reliability of the GHQ, not tested for in the other instruments, was modest. Criterion validity, using a semi-structured interview on the basis of the Munich Diagnostic Checklist for DSM-III-R as external criterion, was good for the Goldberg scales, but modest for the two other instruments.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 26 , Issue 4 , July 1996 , pp. 837 - 844
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCE

Darby, S. C. & Reeves, G. K. (1991). Lessons of Chernobyl. Psychological problems seem to be a major health effect at present. British Medical Journal 303, 1347–1348.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duncan-Jones, P. & Henderson, S. (1978). The use of a two-phase design in a population survey. Social Psychiatry 13, 231–237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giel, R. (1991). The psychosocial aftermath of two major disasters in the Soviet Union. Journal of Traumatic Stress 4, 381–392.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldberg, D. P. & Williams, P. (1988). Manual of the General Health Questionnaire. NFER Publishing Company: Windsor.Google Scholar
Goldberg, D. & Bridges, K. (1987). Screening for psychiatric illness in general practice: the general practitioner versus the screening questionnaire. Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners 2, 15–18.Google Scholar
Goldberg, D., Bridges, K., Duncan-Jones, P. & Grayson, D. (1988). Detecting anxiety and depression in general medical settings. British Medical Journal 297, 897–899.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Havenaar, J. M., Poelijoe, N. W., Kaasjager, K., Westermann, A. & van den Bout, J. (1993). Report on a population survey in the Gomel Region, Belarus (technical report). RIVM Report, National Institute of Public Health and Environmental Protection: Bilthoven.Google Scholar
Havenaar, J. M., Rumyantzeva, G. M., Filipenko, V. V., van den Brink, W., Poelijoe, N. W., van den Bout, J. & Romasenko, L. (1995). Experiences with a checklist for DSM-III-R in Russia and Belarus. Inter-rater reliability and concurrent validity of the Munich Diagnostic Checklist for DSM-III-R in two former Soviet countries. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 92, 419–424.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Havenaar, J. M., van den Brink, W., van den Bout, J., Kasyanenko, A. P., Poeligoe, N. W., Wohlfarth, T. & Meijler-Iljina, L. I. (1996). Mental health problems in the Gomel region (Belarus): an analysis of risk factors in an area affected by the Chernobyl disaster. Psychological Medicine 26, 845–855.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hanley, J. A. & McNeil, B. J. (1982). The meaning and use of the area under a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Radiology 143, 29–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henderson, S., Duncan-Jones, P., Byrne, D. G., Scott, R. & Adcock, S. (1979). Psychiatric disorder in Canberra. A standardized study of prevalence. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 60, 355–374.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hiller, W., von Bose, M., Dichtl, G. & Agarer, D. (1990 a). Reliability of checklist-guided diagnoses for DSM-III-R affective and anxiety disorders. Journal of Affective Disorders 20, 235–247.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hiller, W., Zaudig, M. & Mombour, W. (1990 b). Development of diagnostic checklists for use in routine clinical care. A Guideline designed to assess DSM-III-R diagnoses. Archives of General Psychiatry 47, 782–784.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kortmann, F. & Ten Horn, S. (1988). Comprehension and motivation in response to a psychiatric screening instrument: validity of the SRQ in Ethiopia. British Journal of Psychiatry 153, 95–101.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mari, J. D. J. & Williams, P. (1985). A comparison of the validity of two psychiatric screening questionnaires (GHQ-12 and SRQ-20) in Brazil using Receiver Operative Characteristic (ROC) analysis. Psychological Medicine 15, 651–659.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mumford, D. B., Bavington, J. T., Bhatnagar, K. S., Hussain, Y., Mirza, S. & Naraghi, M. M. (1991). The Bradford Somatic Inventory. A multi-ethnic inventory of somatic symptoms reported by anxious and depressed patients in Britain and the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent. British Journal of Psychiatry 158, 379–386.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shigematsu, I. (1991). The International Chernobyl Project. An Overview. Assessment of Radiological Consequences and Evaluation of Protective Measures. Report by an International Advisory Committee. The International Atomic Energy Agency: Vienna.Google Scholar
Stansfeld, S. A. & Marmot, M. G. (1992). Social class and minor psychiatric disorder in British civil servants: a validated screening survey using the General Health Questionnaire. Psychological Medicine 22, 739–749.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Viinamäki, H., Kumpusalo, E., Myllykangas, M., Salomaa, S., Kumpusalo, L., Komakov, S., Ilchenko, I., Zhukowsky, G. & Nissinen, A. (1995). The Chernobyl accident and mental wellbeing – a population study. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 91, 396–401.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed