Reliability and validity of the Cambodian version of the 28-item General Health Questionnaire

Abstract

This study confirmed the reliability and validity of a Cambodian version of the 28-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28). The GHQ-28 was tested on 223 adult Cambodians living in Dunedin, New Zealand, who were examined independently by a psychiatrist (P.C.) using the short Present State Examination (PSE). There were satisfactory internal consistencies for the whole scale and the subscales except the C scale. It correctly identified 84.4% of cases with a 3/4 cut-off (sensitivity 87.5%, specificity 82.8%), suggesting a discriminative power as good as its English version when used among Caucasian women in Dunedin. The four subscales were by no means independent, and concurrent validity tests with the PSE suggested that they provided additional information regarding somatic symptoms and anxiety, but not about social dysfunction and depression.