Psychological Assessment
Volume 30, Issue 10, 2018, Pages 1267-1276

Successful validation of the CAT-MH scales in a sample of Latin American migrants in the United States and Spain (Article)

Gibbons R.D.* , Alegría M. , Cai L. , Herrera L. , Markle S.L. , Collazos F. , Baca-García E.
  • a Departments of Medicine and Public Health Sciences, University of Chicago, 5841 South Maryland Avenue, MC2000, Chicago, IL 60637, United States
  • b Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, United States, Department of Medicine and Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, United States
  • c Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, University of California-Los Angeles, United States
  • d Disparities Research Unit, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, United States
  • e Disparities Research Unit, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, United States
  • f Department of Psychiatry, Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron, Barcelona, Spain, Biomedical Research Networking, Center for Mental Health Network (CIBERSAM), Madrid, Spain
  • g Department of Psychiatry, IIS-Jimenez Diaz Foundation, Madrid, Spain, Department of Psychiatry, Autonoma University of Madrid, Spain

Abstract

We examined cultural differences in the item characteristic functions of self-reported of symptoms of depression, anxiety, and mania-hypomania in a Latino population taking Computerized Adaptive Tests for Mental Health (CAT-MH) in Spanish versus a non-Latino sample taking the tests in English. We studied differential item functioning (DIF) of the most common adaptively administered symptom items out of a bank of 1,008 items between Latino (n = 1276) and non-Latino (n = 798) subjects. For depression, we identified 4 items with DIF that were good discriminators for non-Latinos but poor discriminators for Latinos. These items were related to cheerfulness, life satisfaction, concentration, and fatigue. The correlation between the original calibration and a Latino-only new calibration after eliminating these items was r = .990. For anxiety, no items with DIF were identified. The correlation between the original and new calibrations was r = .993. For mania-hypomania, we identified 4 items with differential item functioning that were good discriminators for non-Latinos but poor discriminators for Latinos. These items were related to risk-taking, self-assurance, and sexual activity. The correlation between the original and new calibration was r = .962. Once the identified items were removed, the correlation between the original calibration and a Latino-only calibration was r = .96 or greater. These findings reveal that the CAT-MH can be reliably used to measure depression, anxiety, and mania in Latinos taking these tests in Spanish. © 2018 American Psychological Association.

Author Keywords

Item response theory Computerized adaptive testing mania Depression Anxiety

Index Keywords

anxiety depression South and Central America Latin America anxiety disorder sexual behavior Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted mental health human validation study Self Report middle aged computer assisted diagnosis controlled study calibration Aged Depressive Disorder Anxiety Disorders ethnology Hispanic Americans bipolar disorder United States Young Adult Humans migrant psychology Hispanic life satisfaction Adolescent male Emigrants and Immigrants Spain female Aged, 80 and over very elderly psychological rating scale reproducibility Psychiatric Status Rating Scales Reproducibility of Results hypomania scoring system Article major clinical study adult migration cohort analysis disease severity Transients and Migrants Fatigue Computerized Adaptive Tests for Mental Health Scale Personal Satisfaction satisfaction computerized adaptive testing
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85047356018&doi=10.1037%2fpas0000569&partnerID=40&md5=17df5fb33dcdea07cefda7e375227a3f
DOI: 10.1037/pas0000569
ISSN: 10403590
Cited by: 3
Original Language: English