The Vietnamese Version of the Self Reporting Questionnaire 20 (SRQ-20) in Detecting Mental Disorders in Rural Vietnam: A Validation Study

Kim Bao Giang, Peter Allebeck, Gunnar Kullgren and Nguyen van Tuan
Additional contact information
Kim Bao Giang: Hanoi Medical University, Hanoi, Vietnam, and Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; kbgiangvn@yahoo.com
Peter Allebeck: Department of Public Health Sciences, Norrbacka, Karolinska Institutet, SE-171 76 Stockholm, Sweden; Department of Social Medicine Gothenburg University, Gothenburg, Sweden.
Gunnar Kullgren: Department of Clinical Sciences, Psychiatry, Umea University, Umea, Sweden.
Nguyen van Tuan: Department of Psychiatry, Hanoi Medical University, Hanoi, Vietnam.

International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 2006, vol. 52, issue 2, 175-184

Abstract: Background: There is a need to develop instruments to measure mental disorders in developing countries because mental disorders are increasingly being recognised as a major public health problem. There has been no previous study in Vietnam validating screening instruments for mental health problems. Aim: To adapt and to validate the Self Reporting Questionnaire-20 (SRQ-20) in the Vietnamese community. Methods: A Vietnamese version of the SRQ-20 was developed and tested in 52 persons in a district hospital sample and 485 persons in a community sample. The psychiatrists' diagnoses were taken as the validity criterion. Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis was performed to identify the optimal cut-off value. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) was calculated to assess the performance of SRQ in different sociodemographic groups. Results: In the district hospital sample, the optimal cut-off score was 5/6 with a sensitivity of 85%, a specificity of 46% and an AUC of 0.74 (95% CI: 0.59–0.89). In the community sample, it was 6/7 with a sensitivity of 85%, a specificity of 61% and AUC of 0.86 (95% CI: 0.81–0.93). In terms of AUC, SRQ performed significantly better in the age group 18–24 years as compared with other ages and with single persons as compared with widowed or divorced people. Conclusion: The SRQ-20 was found feasible to use and adapt to the Vietnamese setting. We confirmed the value of this instrument for use in developing countries, but the optimal cut-off limit has to be assessed and determined according to local conditions.

Date: 2006
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:52:y:2006:i:2:p:175-184

DOI: 10.1177/0020764006061251

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