Psychometric properties of the Thai Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (MFQ) for adolescent depression

Nanthaka Fuseekul,Faith Orchard,Shirley Reynolds

doi:10.1186/s13034-021-00372-8

Abstract

BackgroundThe Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (MFQ) is a widely used screening tool for child and adolescence depression but has not been validated with young people in Thailand. This study aimed to assess the reliability and validity and to determine the optimal clinical cut-off of the Thai MFQ.MethodsThe Thai MFQ was evaluated in two parts. In part 1, The MFQ was translated and back translated into the Thai language and piloted on a small number of Thai adolescents. Then 1275 young people aged 12–18 years from three secondary schools in Thailand completed the MFQ and related measures of depression. In part 2, 138 students were invited to take part in a structured diagnostic interview (the Thai translation of the Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children -Present and Lifetime Version (the K-SADS-PL). Of those, 103 students were interviewed and completed the Thai MFQ a second time to assess test–retest reliability. Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) analyses were conducted to evaluate diagnosis accuracy and examine the optimal cut-off score of the Thai MFQ.ResultsThe Thai MFQ had excellent internal consistency (α = 0.92) and good to moderate test–retest reliability in 2-week and 4-week intervals. The Thai MFQ also had good convergent validity with related measures of depression. The ROC analyses demonstrated that the Thai MFQ also had excellent accuracy distinguishing between depressed and non-depressed adolescents [AUC = 0.95, 95% CI [0.92, 0.99]. A total score of 28 on the Thai MFQ was the optimal cut-off score (sensitivity was 0.97 and specificity was 0.83).DiscussionThe Thai MFQ demonstrated excellent psychometric properties and accurately distinguished between depressed and non-depressed adolescents. It is appropriate to use as a screening measure to identify adolescents with depression in community settings in Thailand.

Highlights

Depression is a common mental health problem in adolescents worldwide [1]
Mean differences of the Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (MFQ) were examined for young people who were given a diagnosis of MDD versus those who did not receive a diagnosis of MDD
This study examined a range of psychometric properties of the Thai MFQ and used the gold standard structured clinical interview, the K-SADS-PL to discriminate between participants with and without depression

Summary

Introduction

Depression is a common mental health problem in adolescents worldwide [1]. Adolescence is a life stage when individuals are at high risk to the onset of depression [2]. Many self-report measurement instruments are used to assess depression in adolescents in research and clinical practice [6]. Most of these instruments have been developed for use in the USA or Europe and their psychometric properties have been evaluated with young people from those countries. The validity of these instruments varies when they are translated and used in new contexts and with young people from other cultures [7, 8]. The Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (MFQ) is a widely used screening tool for child and adolescence depression but has not been validated with young people in Thailand.

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