查看文章

Several recent studies have documented that substantial functional impairment is associated with many of the mental disorders seen in primary care. However, brief measures of mental health-related functional impairment are not commonly applied in primary care settings. The Sheehan Disability Scale (SDS), a three-item instrument for assessing such impairment, is evaluated in this study. Method: A psychometric analysis of the SDS was conducted with a sample of 1001 primary care patients at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, California. The SDS and the Symptom Driven Diagnostic System for Primary Care assessments were completed.

The internal consistency reliability of the SDS is high, with coefficient alpha of 0.89. The construct validity was substantiated in two ways. A one-factor model fit the data quite well. Furthermore, patients with each of six psychiatric disorders had significantly higher …