Gao Fei, Luo Nan, Thumboo Julian, Fones Calvin, Li Shu-Chuen, Cheung Yin-Bun
Clinical Trials and Epidemiological Sciences, National Cancer Centre, 11 Hospital Drive, 169610, Singapore.
Health Qual Life Outcomes. 2004 Nov 11;2:63. doi: 10.1186/1477-7525-2-63.
The 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) is widely used as a unidimensional instrument, but factor analyses tended to suggest that it contains two or three factors. Not much is known about the usefulness of the GHQ-12 factors, if they exist, in revealing between-patient differences in clinical states and health-related quality of life.
We addressed this issue in a cross-sectional survey of out-patients with psychological disorders in Singapore. The participants (n = 120) completed the GHQ-12, the Beck Anxiety Inventory, and the Short-Form 36 Health Survey. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to compare six previously proposed factor structures for the GHQ-12. Factor scores of the best-fitting model, as well as the overall GHQ-12 score, were assessed in relation to clinical and health-related quality of life variables.
The 3-factor model proposed by Graetz fitted the data better than a unidimensional model, two 2-factor models, and two other 3-factor models. However, the three factors were strongly correlated. Their values varied in a similar fashion in relation to clinical and health-related quality of life variables.
The 12-item General Health Questionnaire contains three factors, namely Anxiety and Depression, Social Dysfunction, and Loss of Confidence. Nevertheless, using them separately does not offer many practical advantages in differentiating clinical groups or identifying association with clinical or health-related quality of life variables.
12项一般健康问卷（GHQ - 12）被广泛用作单一维度的工具，但因素分析往往表明它包含两个或三个因素。对于GHQ - 12的因素（如果存在的话）在揭示患者临床状态差异和健康相关生活质量方面的有用性，人们了解得并不多。
我们在新加坡对患有心理障碍的门诊患者进行的横断面调查中解决了这个问题。参与者（n = 120）完成了GHQ - 12、贝克焦虑量表和简短健康调查问卷36项。验证性因素分析用于比较先前提出的GHQ - 12的六种因素结构。根据临床和健康相关生活质量变量评估最佳拟合模型的因素得分以及整体GHQ - 12得分。
格雷茨提出的三因素模型比单维模型、两个两因素模型和另外两个三因素模型更适合数据。然而，这三个因素高度相关。它们的值在与临床和健康相关生活质量变量相关方面以类似方式变化。
12项一般健康问卷包含三个因素，即焦虑和抑郁、社会功能障碍以及信心丧失。然而，单独使用它们在区分临床组或确定与临床或健康相关生活质量变量的关联方面并没有太多实际优势。
