Assessing psychological distress in psychiatric patients: validation of the Talbieh Brief Distress Inventory

Abstract

The present study examined the psychometric properties of the Talbieh Brief Distress Inventory (TBDI), a 24-item self-report instrument used to measure psychological distress, for use in psychiatric patients. A case-control and partly longitudinal design was used to test the TBDI among 431 psychiatric outpatients and inpatients and 197 gender- and age-matched nonpatients. All respondents were interviewed using the ICD-10 Symptom Checklist, and patients additionally with psychopathology rating scales. Internal consistency of the TBDI distress index was 0.92. A cutoff of 2.0 was associated with 96% sensitivity and 56% specificity. Mean TBDI scores were significantly lower for nonpatients than for both outpatients and inpatients, and for schizophrenic patients compared with patients suffering from schizoaffective/mood disorders and from neurotic/personality disorders. The TBDI shows good capacity to discriminate levels and symptoms of distress between control subjects and mentally ill patients. The TBDI is a brief, valid, and useful tool for stress-related research that allows comparison of the psychological responsiveness of distinct patients and groups of patients and facilitates assessment of distress levels across cultural or language barriers.