Hostname: page-component-7f64f4797f-stzjp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-11-03T09:06:51.124Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The General Health Questionnaire and the Detection of Emotional Disorder by General Practitioners

A Replicated Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

A. P. Boardman
A. P. Boardman*
Affiliation:
National Unit for Psychiatric Research and Development, Lewisham Hospital, Lewisham High Street, Lewisham, London SE13 6LH; and Honorary Senior Registrar, Division of Psychiatry, Guy's Hospital
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

This paper reports on a study of psychiatric morbidity in 920 patients attending 18 General Practitioners in Lewisham, South East London. Two indices of morbidity were computed on the basis of the patients responses to the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) and the GPs' own estimates. Indices of the GPs' detection ability were found by comparing questionnaire and GP rating. The results are compared to those obtained by other workers in a sample of Manchester GPs. The GHQ gave a prevalence estimate of 42.9% which is comparable to that of 39.6% obtained in the Manchester study. In addition, the variation in caseness across sociodemographic groups was consistent with the Manchester findings. The GPs' estimates of morbidity, while much lower than those obtained in Manchester, have similar sociodemographic profiles. The results support the use of the GHQ as a screening device in epidemiological studies, and suggest the need for further investigation of the individual GP's performance as a case detector.

Information

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 151 , Issue 3 , September 1987 , pp. 373 - 381
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1987 

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.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Bouras, N. & Brough, D. I. (1982) The Development of the Mental Health Advice Centre in Lewisham Health District. Health Trends, 14, 65–69.Google Scholar
Chancellor, A., Mant, A. & Andrews, G. (1977) The General Practitioners identification and management of emotional disorders. Australian Family Physician, 6, 1137–1143.Google Scholar
Endicott, J. & Spitzer, R. L. (1978) A diagnostic interview: The schedule for affective disorders and schizophrenia. Archives of General Psychiatry, 35, 337–844.Google Scholar
Goldberg, D. (1972) The Detection of Psychiatric Illnesses by Questionnaire. Maudsley Monograph. No. 21. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Goldberg, D. (1978) Manual of the General Health Questionnaire. Slough: National Foundation for Education Research.Google Scholar
Goldberg, D. & Huxley, P. (1980) Mental Illness in the Community. The Pathway to Psychiatric Care. London: Tavistock.Google Scholar
Goldberg, D. & Huxley, P., Cooper, B., Eastwood, M. R., Kedward, H. B. & Shepherd, M. (1970). A standardised psychiatric interview for use in community surveys. British Journal of Preventative and Social Medicine, 24, 18–23.Google ScholarPubMed
Goldberg, D. & Huxley, P., Cooper, B., Eastwood, M. R., Kedward, H. B. & Shepherd, M., Kay, G. & Thompson, L. (1976) Psychiatric Morbidity in General Practice and the Community. Psychological Medicine, 6, 565–569.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goldberg, D. & Huxley, P., Cooper, B., Eastwood, M. R., Kedward, H. B. & Shepherd, M., Kay, G. & Thompson, L., Steele, J. J., Smith, C. & Spivey, L. (1980) Training family practice residents to recognise psychiatric disturbances. Final Report. Contract No. ADAMHA 278–78–003. Department of Psychiatry Biometrica and Family Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina.Google Scholar
Goldberg, D. & Huxley, P., Cooper, B., Eastwood, M. R., Kedward, H. B. & Shepherd, M., Kay, G. & Thompson, L., Steele, J. J., Smith, C. & Spivey, L., Steele, J. J., Johnson, A. & Smith, C. (1982) Ability of primary care physicians to make accurate ratings of psychiatric symptoms. Archives of General Psychiatry, 39, 829–833.Google Scholar
Hankin, J. & Oktay, J. S. (1979) Mental Disorder and primary medical care: An analytical review of the literature. National Institute of Mental Health Series D No. 5.Google Scholar
Hesbacher, P., Schein, L. & Leopold, R. L. (1975) Psychiatric illness detection: a comparison of osteopaths and M.Ds in private family practice. Social Science and Medicine, 9, 461–468.Google Scholar
Hoeper, E. W., Nycz, G. R., Cleary, P. D., Regier, D. A. & Goldberg, D. (1979) Estimated prevalence of RDC mental disorder in primary care. International Journal of Mental Health, 8, 6–15.Google Scholar
Kessel, N. (1960) Psychiatric Morbidity in a London general practice. British Journal of Preventive and Social Medicine, 14, 16–22.Google Scholar
Marks, J. N., Goldberg, D. P. & Hillier, V. F. (1979) Determinants of the ability of General Practitioners to detect psychiatric illness. Psychological Medicine, 9, 337–353.Google Scholar
Schein, L. (1977) Quoted In Goldberg, D. & Huxley, P. (1980) Shepherd, M., Cooper, B., Brown, A. C. & Kalton, G. W. (1966) Psychiatric Illness in General Practice. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Skuse, D. & Williams, P. (1984) Screening for psychiatric disorder in General Practice. Psychological Medicine, 14, 365–377.Google Scholar
Spitzer, R. L., Endicott, J. & Robins, E. (1978). Research diagnostic criteria: Rationale and reliability. Archives of General Psychiatry, 35, 733–782.Google Scholar
Stimson, G. (1975) Women in a doctored world. New Society, 32, 267–269.Google Scholar
Williams, P., Tarnopolsky, A. & Hand, D. (1980) Case definition and case identification in psychiatric epidemiology review and assessment. Psychological Medicine, 10, 101–114.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.