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BMC Psychiatry
Published in: BMC Psychiatry 1/2016

Open Access 01-12-2016 | Research article

Validation of the Chinese version of the PHQ-15 in a tertiary hospital

Authors: Lan Zhang, Kurt Fritzsche, Yang Liu, Jian Wang, Mingjin Huang, Yu Wang, Liang Chen, Shanxia Luo, Jianying Yu, Zaiquan Dong, Liling Mo, Rainer Leonhart

Published in: BMC Psychiatry | Issue 1/2016

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Abstract

Background

This study aimed to investigate the reliability and validity of the Chinese version of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-15) in a tertiary hospital.

Methods

Using a cross-sectional study design, the Chinese version of the PHQ-15 was administered to a total of 1329 inpatients. To examine the discriminant validity of this questionnaire, we investigated the correlation of the PHQ-15 score with sociodemographic data and the PHQ-9 and GAD-7 scale scores. Exploratory factor analysis was performed to assess the internal consistency of the PHQ-15. To evaluate the consistency of this questionnaire with item response theory (IRT), IRT analysis was performed.

Results

The Chinese version of the PHQ-15 showed good reliability (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.83). The correlations of the PHQ-15 scores with the PHQ-9 depression scale scores (r = 0.565) and the GAD-7 anxiety scale scores (r = 0.512) were moderate; these results suggested that the PHQ-15 had discriminant validity. We identified three factors, referred to as “cardiopulmonary,” “gastrointestinal,” and “pain/neurological,” which explained 56 % of the total variance. A second-order factor analysis including these three factors produced an acceptable model. Several items (4, 8 and 11) displayed extreme floor effects. Additionally, item 4 displayed a very small variance of 0.35 and showed very small differences in its thresholds based on IRT analysis.

Conclusions

The PHQ-15 scale had good reliability and high validity to detect patients with high somatic symptom severity in a Chinese tertiary hospital. Several of the current findings were consistent with previous research on the PHQ-15 in Western countries and in China. To improve the diagnostic quality of this questionnaire, items 4, 8 and 11 can be omitted.
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Metadata
Title
Validation of the Chinese version of the PHQ-15 in a tertiary hospital
Authors
Lan Zhang
Kurt Fritzsche
Yang Liu
Jian Wang
Mingjin Huang
Yu Wang
Liang Chen
Shanxia Luo
Jianying Yu
Zaiquan Dong
Liling Mo
Rainer Leonhart
Publication date
01-12-2016
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Psychiatry / Issue 1/2016
Electronic ISSN: 1471-244X
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-016-0798-5

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