Perception of dangerousness and poor insight about mental illness were significant factors in involuntary psychiatric admissions in China. Factors contributing to the changes in patterns of psychiatric admissions after China's implementation of the mental health law are important topics for further research.
Processed betel quid product chewing is a public health problem in areca non-plant areas in China. However, there is no valid instrument to screen for betel quid use disorder (BQUD) in mainland China. We developed a self-administered screening test for betel quid use disorders (SST-BQUD) and tested its reliability and validity in a sample of betel quid chewers (BQCers) in Hunan, China. Methods: Items of SST-BQUD were selected from the test results of an item pool, which includes 52 questions related to the psychosocial and behavioral presentations of BQUD. All participants, in a self-administered manner, completed the item pool. A subsample completed the re-test one week later. Two psychiatrists interviewed all participants to ascertain the presence of BQUD. The receiver Operating Characteristic curve was used to determine the best cut-off value to discriminate BQUD. Results: One hundred and twelve BQCers were recruited. Based on the statistical analysis of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, 14 yes/no questions were selected for SST-BQUD. As indicated by Cronbach's α coefficient, the internal consistency was 0.876. The area under the curve of SST-BQUD was 0.881, representing a satisfactory diagnostic value. The one-week re-test reliability test was 0.771 (P<0.001), suggesting good stability over time. The optimal cut-off score for BQUD screening was six, with a sensitivity of 0.921 and a specificity of 0.716, implying the satisfactory accuracy of SST-BQUD to screen for BQUD.
Conclusion:The standard version of SST-BQUD consists of 14 items. The total score of SST-BQUD was the sum of affirmative answers, with higher scores denoting a more severe BQUD symptom. If one answered six or more times "yes" to these 14 questions, they can be classified with BQUD. The SST-BQUD is a valid screening method for BQUD among BQCers in betel quid processed area.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.