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Cited by 74Migration, Health and TraumaPsychometric Methodologies and TestingMental Health Treatment and Access

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Development and validation of a mental health screening tool for asylum-seekers and refugees: the STAR-MH

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Hocking, Debbie C., Mancuso, Serafino G., Sundram, Suresh·2018·BMC Psychiatry
DOI 10.1186/s12888-018-1660-8PMC PMC5857116
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Abstract

BACKGROUND: There is no screening tool for major depressive disorder (MDD) or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in asylum-seekers or refugees (ASR) that can be readily administered by non-mental health workers. Hence, we aimed to develop a brief, sensitive and rapidly administrable tool for non-mental health workers to screen for MDD and PTSD in ASR. METHODS: The screening tool was developed from an extant dataset (n = 121) of multiply screened ASR and tested prospectively (N = 192) against the M.I.N.I. (Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview) structured psychiatric interview. Rasch, Differential Item Functioning and ROC analyses evaluated the psychometric properties and tool utility. RESULTS: A 9-item tool with a median administration time of six minutes was generated, comprising two 'immediate screen-in' items, and a 7-item scale. The prevalence of PTSD &/or MDD using the M.I.N.I. was 32%, whilst 99% of other diagnosed mental disorders were comorbid with one or both of these. Using a cut-score of ≥2, the tool provided a sensitivity of 0.93, specificity of 0.75 and predictive accuracy of 80.7%. CONCLUSIONS: A brief sensitive screening tool with robust psychometric properties that was easy to administer at the agency of first presentation was developed to facilitate mental health referrals for asylum-seekers and new refugees.

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Metadata

Authors
Hocking, D. C., Mancuso, S. G., & Sundram, S.
Affiliations
  • Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health (AU)
  • The University of Melbourne (AU)
Corresponding author
Hocking, Debbie C.
ORCID
Venue
BMC Psychiatry
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2018-03-16
Volume
18
Issue
1
Pages
69-69
ISSN
1471-244X (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1186/s12888-018-1660-8
PMC
PMC5857116
OpenAlex
W2801459147
Cited by
74
References
6
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 41 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 8
FWCI
13.93
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • BMC Psychiatry (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Monash University Research Portal (Monash University) (acceptedVersion, other-oa)
  • Minerva Access (University of Melbourne) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
  • Cabrini Institute
  • B.B & A Miller Fund
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Migration, Health and Trauma
  • Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Management Science and Operations Research › Psychometric Methodologies and Testing
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Mental Health Treatment and Access
Keywords
mental health screening, asylum seekers, refugees, major depressive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, brief screening tool, psychometric validation, mental health referral, comorbidities
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Africa, Asia, Major Depressive Disorder, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales, Psychometrics, Refugees, ROC Curve, Sensitivity and Specificity, Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic, Victoria, Young Adult

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