Table 2.
Commonly Employed Structured Questionnaires for Assessing Mental Disorders Amongst Refugees and War-Veterans.
| Questionnaire | Description | Scoring/evaluation | Diagnostic purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25 (HSCL-25) | Consists of 2 subscales—HSCL-A for anxiety (10 items) and HSCL-D for depression (15 items). Each item is scored from 1 to 4. | 1. High total 25 item average correlates with the severe emotional distress of unspecified diagnosis | Assessing the existence and severity of anxiety and depression symptoms |
| 2. High 15-item depression average correlates with major depression (DSM-IV) a | |||
| 3. Probable psychiatric case if HSCL-25 ≥1.55 whilst treatment is required if the score is ≥1.75 | |||
| Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ) | Six unique versions for different conflict refugees (Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laotian, Japanese, Croatian, and Bosnian) | In the Cambodian version, a score >2.5 is considered symptomatic of PTSD | Assessing the existence and severity of PTSD |
| PCL (PTSD Checklist) | The newer version comprises 20 items checklist corresponding to the DSM-V version and doesn’t have military or civilian versions. Each question is answered from 0 to 4. | In PCL-5, a provisional PTSD diagnosis can be made by treating each item rated ≥2 as symptomatic, and then following the diagnostic rule which requires at least: 1B item (questions 1-5), 1C item (questions 6-7), 2D items (questions 8-14), 2E items (questions 15-20) | A Provisional diagnosis of PTSD. The gold standard for diagnosis of PTSD is the clinically administered PTSD Scale (CAPS-5). |
| A score of 31 to 33 (out of 80) is indicative of probable PTSD | |||
| Comprehensive Trauma Inventory (CTI-104) | 104 event items divided into 12 event-type scales. Each item has a check box for whether the patient experienced the event or not, followed by a 0 to 4 scale for assessing the severity of the threat/fear of that event. | Scoring can be done either by calculating the number of events experienced or the sum of the scores of the events experienced | Accessing whether the patient has experienced a traumatic event or not and if yes, evaluate the impact of the event in terms of fear and/or threat |
| Post Migration Living Difficulties (PMLD) Scale | 23 Items scale with each item scored on a 4-point scale | Uses DSM-V scheme for diagnosis of PTSD | Assessment of current stressors amongst asylum seekers |
| Refugee Health Screener-15 (RHS-15) | The first 13 questions of the RHS-15 are known as the RHS-13 and relate to symptoms of depression, anxiety, and PTSD | For the RHS-13, a total score ≥11 is interpreted as a positive screening | Screening and predicting distress, anxiety, PTSD, and depression in refugees |
| Post-traumatic Diagnostic Scale (PDS) | 12-item scale is usually administered along with HTQ. Divided into 4 parts—Part 1 for assessing exposure to a traumatic event and Parts 2 to 4 for symptoms of PTSD. | Uses DSM-V scheme for diagnosis of PTSD | Assessment of PTSD |
a
DSM-IV and V, diagnostic and statistical manual of the American Psychiatric Association, versions IV and V, respectively.