Do mental health service users reliably report their clinical diagnoses and health histories in epidemiological surveys?

Creative Commons License

Wong A. C. Y., Yuan G. F., Wong M. Y. C., Reyes M. E. S., Jaya E. S., Mukhtar F., ...Daha Fazla

Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences, cilt.35, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, SSCI, Scopus)

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 35
  • Basım Tarihi: 2026
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1017/s2045796026100948
  • Dergi Adı: Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, EMBASE, MEDLINE, Psycinfo, Directory of Open Access Journals, Health Research Premium Collection (ProQuest), Pharma Collection (ProQuest)
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: clinical diagnoses, diagnostic recall, epidemiological research, health records, health surveys, mental health research, psychiatric epidemiology, self-report, test–retest reliability
  • Açık Arşiv Koleksiyonu: AVESİS Açık Erişim Koleksiyonu
  • İstanbul Üniversitesi Adresli: Hayır

Özet

Abstract – Aims – Self-report checklists are commonly used to collect health information in social and epidemiological studies. Little is known about the reliability of such self-report data. This study examined the 6-month test–retest reliability of 28 clinical diagnoses and health histories as self-reported by a sample of adult female mental health service users. Methods – A convenience sample of female mental health service users (N = 293) provided self-report data on their health histories – including physical, psychiatric, neurodevelopmental and functional domains – two times, approximately 6 months apart. We calculated the agreement rates and Cohen’s kappa of the results. Results – The results demonstrated high levels of temporal consistency. Agreement rates were ≥84.5% for all conditions, while Cohen’s kappa values were above 0.50 for 21 out of 28 conditions. Conclusions – Self-report checklists, as widely used in survey studies, can yield reliable health data. Social and health science researchers can employ such checklists to collect health background information of research participants, especially when clinical validation is not feasible or when hospital records are not accessible.