Comparison of the general health questionnaire and the Nottingham health profile in a study of unemployed and re-employed men.

Two measures of perceived health, the general health questionnaire and the Nottingham health profile were completed by middle and working class men who had been unemployed for between 18 and 24 months, or had been unemployed longer than six months before regaining employment. Clear differences were found between the perceived health status of the unemployed men and those who had become re-employed. Virtually no association was found between social class and scores on the health measures, supporting earlier findings that unemployment leads to equally poor perceived health in middle class and working class males. High correlations were obtained between the 12-item general health questionnaire, the anxiety and the depression scales, with all three measures correlating quite highly with the emotional reactions, sleep and social isolation sections of the Nottingham health profile. However, the Nottingham health profile provided a broader assessment of perceived health, giving additional information on pain and physical mobility problems.