Validation of the Symptom Checklist SCL-27 in psychiatric patients: Psychometric testing of a multidimensional short form

Abstract

SCL-90-R, a multidimensional assessment instrument for mental health status, is among the most widely used instruments for the evaluation of therapies and quality management in mental institutions. With 90 items it is rather long and has a high redundancy as can be seen in its highly correlated scales. Thus many short versions have been constructed, among them the SCL-27, which was devised as a screening tool. It has 27 items, retains six of the nine SCL-90 dimensions and has shown a good factor structure. So far it has only been validated in non-psychiatric samples. The aim of this study is to determine validity and other psychometric qualities of the SCL-27, compared to the SCL-90-R within a group of 449 psychiatric patients. The study found a large concordance between the symptom scales of the SCL-27 and the corresponding scales of the SCL-90-R. The SCL-27 further showed good reliability and a sensitivity to change comparable to that of the 90-item version. A confirmatory factor analysis yields an acceptable factor validity which is better than that of the long version. This study concludes that the SCL-27 is suitable as a short assessment instrument for psychological health in psychiatric patients.

The High Five Model: Associations of the high factors with complete mental well-being and academic adjustment in university students

“…In this study, the GSI was used as an indicator of symptomatology. The SCL-27 dimensions were strongly positively associated with each other (Kuhl et al, 2010). The discrimination capacity between general and clinical population is similar to that of the SCL-90-R.…”

Validation of a clinician-administered diagnostic measure of ICD-11 PTSD and Complex PTSD: the International Trauma Interview in a Swedish sample

“…Total scores range from 0-108 and subscale scores as follows: depressive (score 0-16), dysthymic (0-16), vegetative (somatisation) (0-24), mistrust (0-16), social phobic (0-16), and agoraphobic symptoms (0-20), each including four to six items. The SCL-27 has shown good psychometric properties across different samples (Hardt & Gerbershagen, 2001;Kuhl et al, 2010). Cronbach's alpha in the current study ranged from α = .75 (depression subscale) to α = .85 (dysthymic and vegetative subscale).…”

Mental Symptoms and Drug Use in Maintenance Treatment with Slow-Release Oral Morphine Compared to Methadone: Results of a Randomized Crossover Study

“…The SCL-27 scale - a short form of the well-established symptom check list SCL-90 [14,19] - was used because of the availability of a validated translation into German and the fact that the short version is less burdensome to administer without loss of sensitivity of change [20]. The SCL-27 has acceptable psychometric properties which were found for the overall GSI score as well as for the subscales in studies with clinical and nonclinical samples [21,22] (which is also true for the further developed version SCL-27-plus [23]). Other instruments for assessing psychological distress are not well established in the target population of opioid-dependent persons.…”