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PROQSY: a Computerised Technique for Psychiatric Case Identification in General Practice

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Greg Wilkinson  and
A. C. Markus
Greg Wilkinson*
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry
A. C. Markus
Affiliation:
Thame Health Centre and Department of Community Medicine and General Practice, University of Oxford
*
∗De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF
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Abstract

Two-stage screening for minor psychiatric morbidity was carried out with a consecutive sample of 256 patients aged 15–69 consulting an experienced GP in a semirural setting over a seven-week period. Patients completed a short GHQ, and the GP made a standardised assessment of the reason for consultation and the degree of psychological disorder. A 40% random subsample were evaluated using PROQSY, a newly developed computerised psychiatric assessment based on the CIS. PROQSY is acceptable to patients in general practice, and yields an estimate of the prevalence of minor psychiatric morbidity (33%), and validity indices for the 12-item, 28-item, and 30-item GHQs, comparable with those found in similar studies, when the CIS has been administered by an interviewer. PROQSY may be recommended as a research tool, providing a criterion measure of minor psychiatric morbidity in general practice, where it may reduce time and manpower, and eliminate interviewer bias.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 154 , Issue 3 , March 1989 , pp. 378 - 382
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1989 

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