Psychometric testing of the Arabic version of the Patient Health Questionnaire among adolescent refugees living in Jordan.

Abstract

Refugee youth living in Arab countries have disproportionately higher rates of depression due to the effects of displacement and trauma which makes screening a priority for early intervention. The Patient Health Questionnaire for Adolescents (PHQ-A) is a reliable and valid scale to assess mental health issues, but its psychometric properties in Arabic refugee populations are unknown. This was a cross-sectional study conducted between March and Mid-April 2018, among Arabic refugee adolescents aged 13-18years living in the Baqa'a United Nations Relief and Works Agency refugee camp in Jordan, to generate an Arabic-language version of the questionnaire and to test its psychometric properties among adolescent refugees. Five hundred and ninety-one adolescents completed the PHQ-A in Arabic. Using SPSS and AMOS version 25, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted and Cronbach's alpha coefficient was computed to assess construct validity and instrument reliability. Multivariate logistic regression analyses assessed the discriminant validity of the PHQ-A. Although exploratory factor analysis identified the nine items from the original version and explained only 37% of the variance, confirmatory factor analysis supported the one-factor structure of the PHQ-A. Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the scale was 0.82 and ranged from 0.79 to 0.81 for each item. The Arabic translated version of the Patient Health Questionnaire for Adolescents showed acceptable psychometric properties for use as a screening tool for depression in Arabic adolescent refugees.