1. Successful validation of the CAT-MH Scales in a sample of Latin American migrants in the United States and Spain.
- Author
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Gibbons RD, Alegría M, Cai L, Herrera L, Markle SL, Collazos F, and Baca-García E
- Subjects
- Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Calibration, Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted, Fatigue, Female, Humans, Latin America ethnology, Male, Mental Health, Middle Aged, Personal Satisfaction, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales, Reproducibility of Results, Self Report, Spain, United States, Young Adult, Anxiety diagnosis, Anxiety Disorders diagnosis, Bipolar Disorder diagnosis, Depression diagnosis, Depressive Disorder diagnosis, Emigrants and Immigrants psychology, Hispanic or Latino psychology, Transients and Migrants psychology
- 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. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).
- Published
- 2018
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