Screening for physical and psychological illness in the British Armed Forces: III: The value of a questionnaire to assist a Medical Officer to decide who needs help

Journal of Medical Screening
Roberto J RonaS Wessely

Abstract

To estimate the positive and negative predictive values (PPVT and NPVT), sensitivity and specificity of a full and abridged screening questionnaire of physical and psychological health, using primary care doctors' (medical officers [MOs]) assessments as to whether the servicemen needed medical help as a gold standard. From a tri-service random sample of those who completed a questionnaire, all 'screen-positive' and an equal random sample of 'screen-negative' were selected to attend their medical centre. MOs were aware that the screening was aimed at detecting psychological illness, but were blind as to the 'screen-positivity' of any serviceman. The MO completed a questionnaire that asked whether the patient needed medical help and whether s/he was previously aware of this need. 314 subjects were available for analysis. The PPVT was 47% (95% confidence interval [CI] 36-59%) for the full questionnaire and 48% (95% CI 36-60%) for the abridged questionnaire. Of those 'screen-positive' subjects whom the MO rated as needing help, one third had problems already known to the MO, regardless of the length of the questionnaire. The sensitivity and specificity of the full and abridged questionnaires were 43% and 74%, and 36% and 83% respec...Continue Reading

Citations

Nov 30, 2007·BMC Medical Research Methodology·A Rosemary TateMatthew Hotopf
Apr 28, 2011·International Review of Psychiatry·Mark A Zamorski
Feb 17, 2005·Health Expectations : an International Journal of Public Participation in Health Care and Health Policy·Richard HooperSimon Wessely
Oct 13, 2006·British Journal of Health Psychology·Roberto J RonaSimon Wessely
Dec 17, 2014·International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research·Amelia K SearleNicole Steele
Jun 2, 2005·The British Journal of Psychiatry : the Journal of Mental Science·Simon Wessely
May 25, 2006·Occupational Medicine·Margaret JonesSimon Wesseley

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