Reliability and validity of the Kessler 10 and Patient Health Questionnaire among injecting drug users
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Leanne Hides1, Dan I Lubman, Harriet Devlin
1ORYGEN Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Locked Bag 10, Parkville, Vic. 3052, Australia. lhides@unimelb.edu.au
Objective:
To examine the reliability and validity of the Kessler 10 (K10) and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) in a sample of injecting drug users (IDUs).
Method:
Participants were 103 IDUs with a current substance use disorder accessing a needle and syringe programme. Presence of mental health disorders was assessed using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI).
Results:
Both the K10 and PHQ had high levels of internal consistency and concurrent validity. Individuals with a positive screen on the K10 were ten lines more likely to have a current affective disorder, while those with a positive PHQ screen had nearly 14 times the risk.
Conclusions:
The K10 and PHQ are recommended as brief screening and diagnostic tools for current affective disorders among IDUs.
