Screening for anxiety and depression in the general population: Adaptation of the Patient Health Questionnaire-4 in Russia

Abstract

The Patient Health Questionnaire-4 (PHQ-4) is one of the most well-known and widely used instruments for assessing anxiety and depressive symptoms.Objective. The aim of this study was to adapt the Russian-language version of the PHQ-4 in the general population.Material and Methods. Data collection was carried out with the help of the service «Anketolog». The participants were 2,000 Russians (1,000 men and 1,000 women) aged 18 to 60 years (M = 38.78; SD = 9.25).Results. The psychometric analysis confirmed the internal reliability and discriminative validity of the adapted questionnaire. The proof of the factor validity of the Russian version of the PHQ-4 was the identification of a two-factor structure describing the symptoms of anxiety and depression, and factor invariance by age, level of education, marital status, parental status, financial status and place of residence. Among the Russians, 44.9% had clinically significant anxiety symptoms and 42.9% had clinically significant depressive symptoms. Russians with anxiety and depressive symptoms more often sought counseling from a psychologist, coach, psychiatrist and neurologist, underwent psychopharmacological treatment in connection with psychological requests, contacted support groups and a psychological help hotline, used online products of automated or semi-automated psychological support, read psychological literature and used psychoactive substances.Conclusion. The psychometric properties of the Russian-language version of the PHQ-4 turned out to be similar to the psychometric characteristics of the original version of the questionnaire, and therefore the adapted questionnaire can be recommended for screening anxiety and depression in the general Russian-speaking population.