Assessment of psychometric properties of the Huaxi Emotional-distress Index questionnaire (HEI)in a large sample of general hospital inpatients

Abstract

ObjectivesHuaxi Emotional-distress Index questionnaire (HEI) is a 9-item questionnaire designed to measure psychological distress. The present study aimed to validate the factor structure of the HEI and its reliability and validity using a large sample from inpatients of West China Hospital. MethodsHEI data were collected from inpatients of various departments at West China Hospital in 2019 through the hospital's data management platform (total sample, N = 55,396). The internal consistency reliability of the HEI was examined. Exploratory factor analysis (N = 27,696) and confirmatory factor analysis(N = 27,700) were conducted to validate the construct validity. ResultsThree factors, namely depression (DEP), anxiety (ANX), and suicidal risk (SR), were extracted through exploratory factor analysis, which accounted for 79.55% of the total variance.The results of confirmatory factor analysis supported the fit for the three-component model oblique model as the best-fitting model compared with one-component model and two-component model. The internal consistency of the HEI was α =0.918. The internal consistencyα of ANX, DEP and SR is 0.87,0.814,0.843 respectively. ConclusionsHEI is a validated and concise tool that serves a dual purpose of screening for mood disorders and assessing depressive and anxiety symptoms as well as suicidal risk among inpatients in Chinese general hospitals.