Questionnaire Analysis

This is a self-report questionnaire consisting of 28 statements, developed by Harding and colleagues in 1983. It includes the original World Health Organization (WHO) scale (24 items), with an additional 4 culturally adapted items designed for respondents from different cultural backgrounds (e.g., migrants and refugees from developing countries).

Purpose of the Questionnaire

The purpose of the SQRF-28 is to screen for mental disorders, track changes in symptoms over time in a primary health care setting, and identify potential psychiatric morbidity.
Scoring Method and Statistical Analysis
Participants rate each statement based on whether the content describes them or not.
A score of 0 is given if the statement does not apply,
and 1 if it does apply.
If the number of positive responses in the somatic subscale (questions 1–20, 23, 24, and 27) exceeds a predefined threshold value (cut-off score = 11) and at least one positive response is recorded for a psychotic item, it is highly likely that the respondent suffers from some form of mental disorder.

Validity and Reliability

The questionnaire has good face and concurrent validity. Moreover, the correlation between the questionnaire and psychiatric evaluation based on DSM-IV diagnostic criteria is statistically significant (r = 0.61, p < 0.01).
Internal consistency reliability (Cronbach’s alpha) for the entire scale is α = 0.93.
Split-half reliability is r = 0.92.
The questionnaire was standardized in Greek by Lyrakos (2012).

References

Foreign-Language Sources:
Harding, T. W., Climent, C. E., Diop, M., Giel, R., Ibrahim, H. H. A., Murthy, R. S., et al. (1983). The WHO Collaborative Study on Strategies for Extending Mental Health Care, II: the development of new research methods. American Journal of Psychiatry, 140, 1471–1480.
Mari, J. J., & Williams, P. (1986). A validity study of a psychiatric screening questionnaire in primary care in the city of Sao Paulo. British Journal of Psychiatry, 148, 23–26.
Youngmann, R., Zilber, N., Workneh, F., & Giel, R. (2008). Adapting the SQR for Ethiopian Populations: A culturally sensitive psychiatric screening instrument. Transcultural Psychiatry, 45(4), 566–589.
Greek-Language Source:
Lyrakos, G. (2012). Greek version of the Self Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-F). In: “Psychometric Tools in Greece. New expanded and improved edition.” Edited by A. Stalikas, S. Triliva, P. Roussi. Pedio Publications. Athens. pp. 124–125. ISBN: 978-960-546-081-5.