ArticleInternational journal of methods in psychiatric research2024
Measuring psychological distress using the 12-item general health questionnaire and the six-item Kessler psychological distress scale. Psychometric comparison and equipercentile equating of the two scales.
Article in International journal of methods in psychiatric research, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed.
- The Kessler 6 psychological distress scale (K6) in swedish: a psychometric study of reliability, factor structure and measurement invariance in a large population-based sample.BMC psychology · 2026Article
- Biomolecular Pathways Linking Preoperative Chronic Stress to Postoperative Cardiovascular Dysfunction in Noncardiac Surgery.Biomolecules · 2026Review
- The Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale in Swedish: A Large-Scale Study of Reliability and Validity in Adults.Health science reports · 2026Article
- Mental healthcare utilization among migrants and Swedish-born adults accounting for probable needs, 2006-2022.Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences · 2026Article
- Psychological distress, psychosocial factors, and physical inactivity among older women and men in Sweden: a population-based study.BMC public health · 2025Article
- More or less equal? Trends in horizontal equity in mental health care utilization in Stockholm county, Sweden (2006-2022). Repeated survey-registry linked studies.International journal for equity in health · 2025Article
- Exploring socio-economic inequalities in mental healthcare utilization in adults with self-reported psychological distress: a survey-registry linked cohort design.Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences · 2025Article
- Measuring psychological distress using the 12-item general health questionnaire and the six-item Kessler psychological distress scale. Psychometric comparison and equipercentile equating of the two scales.International journal of methods in psychiatric research · 2024Article
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4 authors.
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Abstract
objectivesThis study aimed to examine if the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ)-12 and Kessler 6 (K6) assess the same underlying construct and to develop a score conversion table for the two scales.
methodsA random sample of 4303 people who completed both the GHQ-12 and K6 in 2021 were analyzed. Exploratory bifactor analysis evaluated if both scales measured the same construct, and Rasch analysis assessed item severities. The scales were transformed using Equipercentile equivalence for comparability and score conversion. Agreement was estimated with Cohen's Kappa coefficient, along with raw positive and negative agreement.
resultsWe found that the two scales measure the same phenomenon to the extent that they can be made equivalent. Conversion tables between GHQ-12 and K6 are presented. Applying the commonly used cut-off of ≥3 on the GHQ-12 bi-modal scoring, we found that the best corresponding cut-off on the K6 would be ≥8. The prevalence of psychological distress was then 22% with GHQ-12% and 21% with K6.
conclusionsThe GHQ-12 and K6 measure the same construct and corresponding cut-off scores on one scale were found for the other scale. This is valuable for longitudinal studies or time series where one scale has replaced the other scale.
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