Author/Authors :
Sharma, V.K. University of Chester - Faculty of Health and Social Care, UK , Durrani, S. Shiekh Khalifa Medical City - Behavioural Science Pavillion, United Arab Emirates , Sawa, M. Kent and Medway Mental Health and Social Care Partnership Trust, UK , Copeland, J.R.M. University of Liverpool, UK , Abou-Saleh, M.T. Qatar Addiction Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre Project, Qatar , Lane, S. University of Liverpool - Institute of Translational Medicine, UK , Lepping, P. Bangor University, UK , Lepping, P. Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, North Wales
Abstract :
Mental health services are far from satisfactory in the Eastern Mediterranean Region. The Global Mental Health Assessment Tool—Primary Care version (GMHAT/PC) is a semi-structured, computerized clinical assessment tool that was developed to assist health workers in making quick, convenient and comprehensive standardized mental health assessments. A study was carried out in the United Arab Emirates to evaluate the validity and feasibility of the Arabic version of the GMHAT/PC. Mental health nurses administered the GMHAT/ PC Arabic version to 50 patients in mental health and rehabilitation settings and their GMHAT/PC diagnosis was compared with the psychiatrist’s independent ICD-10 based clinical diagnosis on the same patients. The nurses found GMHAT/PC easy to administer in an average of 16 minutes. The GMHAT/PC-based diagnosis had a good agreement with the psychiatrist’s diagnosis (kappa = 0.91) and a high sensitivity (97%) and specificity (94%).
