Lewis Rashunda, Adams Monica, Olansky Evelyn, Sionean Catlainn
Division of HIV Prevention, National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Rd., Mailstop US8-4, Atlanta, GA, 30329, USA.
Division of Viral Hepatitis, National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, USA.
AIDS Behav. 2025 Jun 27. doi: 10.1007/s10461-025-04765-0.
The Kessler 6 (K6) scale has been widely used to screen for serious mental illness (SMI) in general populations. Given that populations with high burden of HIV may be more likely to experience poor mental health outcomes, it is important to validate measures used to assess SMI among these groups. Using data from CDC's National HIV Behavioral Surveillance (NHBS) system in the United States, we examined psychometric characteristics of the K6 scale, including exploratory factor analysis, scale reliability, construct validity, and review of interviewer feedback to explore scale performance in the field. Analyses confirmed a single factor structure and demonstrated that the K6 scale had high internal consistency and construct validity. Although interviewers noted that the effort item was difficult for some participants to understand, psychometric properties were not greatly improved with the deletion of the item. The results of this analysis suggest that the K6 scale is appropriate for use among NHBS populations with a high burden of HIV, including persons who inject drugs, heterosexually active adults at increased risk for HIV infection, women who exchange sex for money or drugs, and gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men.
凯斯勒6项量表（K6）已被广泛用于在普通人群中筛查严重精神疾病（SMI）。鉴于艾滋病毒负担较重的人群可能更易出现不良心理健康结果，因此验证用于评估这些群体中严重精神疾病的测量方法很重要。利用美国疾病控制与预防中心国家艾滋病毒行为监测（NHBS）系统的数据，我们研究了K6量表的心理测量特征，包括探索性因素分析、量表信度、结构效度，以及对访谈者反馈的审查，以探讨该量表在实际应用中的表现。分析证实了单因素结构，并表明K6量表具有较高的内部一致性和结构效度。尽管访谈者指出努力程度这一项目对一些参与者来说难以理解，但删除该项目后心理测量特性并未得到很大改善。该分析结果表明，K6量表适用于艾滋病毒负担较重的NHBS人群，包括注射毒品者、感染艾滋病毒风险增加的异性性行为活跃成年人、以性换钱或毒品的女性，以及男同性恋、双性恋和其他与男性发生性行为的男性。
