Validating mental health assessment in Kenya using an innovative gold standard.

ABSTRACT: With the growing burden of mental health disorders worldwide, alongside efforts to expand availability of evidence-based interventions, strategies are needed to ensure accurate identification of individuals suffering from mental disorders. Efforts to locally validate mental health assessments are of particular value, yet gold-standard clinical validation is costly, time-intensive, and reliant on available professionals. This study aimed to validate assessment items for mental distress in Kenya, using an innovative gold standard and a combination of culturally adapted and locally developed items. The mixed-method study drew on surveys and semi-structured interviews, conducted by lay interviewers, with 48 caregivers. Interviews were used to designate mental health "cases" or "non-cases" base

SUBMITTER: Watson LK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7321828 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature