Depressive symptomatology in adolescents in Ghana: Examination of psychometric properties of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9

Adote Anum; Samuel Adjorlolo; Nuworza Kugbey

doi:10.1016/j.jad.2019.06.007

Depressive symptomatology in adolescents in Ghana: Examination of psychometric properties of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9

J Affect Disord. 2019 Sep 1:256:213-218. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2019.06.007. Epub 2019 Jun 3.

Authors

Adote Anum¹, Samuel Adjorlolo², Nuworza Kugbey³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, College of Humanities, University of Ghana, P. O. Box LG 84, Legon, Accra, Ghana.
² Department of Mental Health, School of Nursing and Midwifery, College of Health Sciences, University of Ghana, P. O. Box LG 43, Legon, Accra, Ghana; Research and Grant Institute of Ghana, P. O. Box GP 2543, Accra, Ghana. Electronic address: sadjorlolo@ug.edu.gh.
³ Department of Family and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ho, Volta Region, Ghana; Discipline of Psychology, School of Applied Human Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

PMID: 31181377
DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2019.06.007

Abstract

Background: The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) has been used extensively in research and clinical settings. However, there is limited information regarding the psychometric properties of the PHQ-9 among adolescents, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.

Methods: Data were collected from 553 adolescents (girls = 322, 58.1%) using a cross-sectional survey design to investigate the factorial validity, construct validity and internal consistency of the PHQ-9 in Ghana.

Results: Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and multi-group CFA support a one-factor structure of the PHQ-9 that was invariant across gender. The PHQ-9 correlates significantly with measures of anxiety, depression, mental wellbeing, and suicidal behavior. The internal consistency of the PHQ-9 was 0.71.

Limitation: The study did not include a gold standard measure of depression to assess the diagnostic properties (e.g., sensitivity and specificity) of the PHQ-9.

Conclusion: The results suggest that major depressive disorder, measured by the PHQ-9, is a homogeneous construct across gender and that the PHQ-9 can be used to screen for depressive symptoms in adolescent boys and girls in Ghana.

Keywords: Adolescents; Africa; Depression; Ghana; PHQ-9; Psychometrics.

Publication types

Validation Study

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Anxiety / diagnosis
Cross-Sectional Studies
Depression / diagnosis*
Depressive Disorder, Major / diagnosis*
Factor Analysis, Statistical
Female
Ghana
Humans
Male
Patient Health Questionnaire / standards*
Psychometrics
Reproducibility of Results
Sensitivity and Specificity
Surveys and Questionnaires