Comparison of the General Health Questionnaire and the Cornell Medical Index Health Questionnaire

Abstract

This study compares the 30-item version of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) and the psychiatric section of the Cornell Medical Index Health Questionnaire (CMI-MR) using normative data from a sample of the general population and data from general practice patients where clinical assessment by a psychiatrist is used as a criterion of psychiatric caseness. In this study the CMI-MR has a slightly better overall performance as a screening test. It appears that the CMI-MR errs in the direction of false negatives when the symptoms are recent and related to situational stress, but the GHQ has a tendency to miss cases with symptoms of long standing.

The Association of Maternal Psychopathology and Family Socioeconomic Status with Psychological Problems in Obese Children

“…Twenty-five percent of the sample 1 mothers exceeded the clinical cutoff on the CMI (44), and 32% of the sample 2 mothers exceeded clinical cutoffs on the SCL-90-R (14), and in the combined sample 27.6% of all mothers exceeded clinical cutoffs on either the CMI or the SCL-90-R. In sample 1, 6.5% of the mothers met criteria on the BULIT (42), while 25% of the sample 2 mothers met the moderate level criteria on the BBS (24); therefore, 14% of all mothers reported some level of maladaptive eating.…”

“…The total CMI score for all psychiatric scales has been used as a screening device to detect emotional disturbances (12) and has been shown to discriminate emotionally maladjusted from normal individuals (22,39,48), but is not designed to provide specific diagnostic information on psychopathology; thus only the total CMI score was used as an independent variable. Criteria for clinical psychiatric distress was 8 for the mothers (44).…”

Child and Parent Psychological Problems Influence Child Weight Control

“…The total CMI score for all psychiatric scales has been used as a screening device to detect emotional disturbances (10) and has been shown to d i~c r i m i~t e emotionally maladjusted from normal individuals (18,34,40). Criteria for significant parental psychopathology were a score of eight for mothers and seven for fathers (38). The CMI is a screening tool to assess parental symptom reports and distress, but it was not designed to provide specific diagnostic information on parental psychopathology.…”

Predictors of Child Psychological Changes During Family-Based Treatment for Obesity

“…16 Clinical criteria for psychiatric distress was 8 or higher for the mothers. 17 In program 2, maternal psychopathology was assessed with the Symptoms Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R), a reliable and valid self-report inventory 18 designed to be used with community, medical, and psychiatric samples. The SCL-90-R provides a global distress index (Global Severity Index) as well as 9 symptom dimensions (somatization, obsessive-compulsive, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation, psychoticism).…”