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Journal of General Internal Medicine
Published in: Journal of General Internal Medicine 12/2014

01-12-2014 | Original Research

Reliability and Validity of the Haitian Creole PHQ-9

Authors: Linda G. Marc, MPH, ScD, Whitney R. Henderson, MSW, Astrid Desrosiers, MD, Marcia A. Testa, PhD, MPH, Samuel E. Jean, BS, Eniko Edit Akom, MD

Published in: Journal of General Internal Medicine | Issue 12/2014

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ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND

There is limited information on depression in Haitians and this is partly attributable to the absence of culturally and linguistically adapted measures for depression.

OBJECTIVE

To perform a psychometric evaluation of the Haitian-Creole version of the PHQ-9 administered to men who have sex with men (MSM) in the Republic of Haiti.

DESIGN

This study uses a cross-sectional design and data are from the Integrated Behavioral and Biological HIV Survey (IBBS) for MSM in Haiti.

PARTICIPANTS

Inclusion criteria required that participants be male, ≥ 18 years, report sexual relations with a male partner in the last 12 months, and lived in Haiti during the past 3 months. Respondent Driven Sampling was used for participant recruitment.

MAIN MEASURES

A structured questionnaire was verbally administered in Haitian-Creole capturing information on sociodemographics, sexual behaviors, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) status and depressive symptomatology using the PHQ-9. Psychometric analyses of the translated PHQ-9 assessed unidimensionality, factor structure, reliability, construct validity, and differential item functioning (DIF) across subgroups (age, educational level, sexual orientation and HIV status).

KEY RESULTS

In a study population of 1,028 MSM, the Haitian-Creole version of the PHQ-9 is unidimensional, has moderately high internal consistency reliability (α = 0.78), and shows evidence of construct validity where HIV-positive subjects have greater depression (p = 0.002). There is no evidence of DIF across age, education, sexual orientation or HIV status. HIV-positive MSM are twice as likely to screen positive for moderately severe and severe depressive symptoms compared to their HIV-negative counterparts.

CONCLUSIONS

There is strong evidence for the psychometric adequacy of the translated PHQ-9 screening tool as a measure of depression with MSM in Haiti. Future research is necessary to examine the predictive validity of depression for subsequent health behaviors or clinical outcomes among Haitian MSM.
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Metadata
Title
Reliability and Validity of the Haitian Creole PHQ-9
Authors
Linda G. Marc, MPH, ScD
Whitney R. Henderson, MSW
Astrid Desrosiers, MD
Marcia A. Testa, PhD, MPH
Samuel E. Jean, BS
Eniko Edit Akom, MD
Publication date
01-12-2014
Publisher
Springer US
Published in
Journal of General Internal Medicine / Issue 12/2014
Print ISSN: 0884-8734
Electronic ISSN: 1525-1497
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-014-2951-5

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