OBJECTIVES: In order to be used with teenagers in Kenya, our study sought to verify the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 in both English and Swahili. The Kiddie Schedule of Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia was used in diagnostic interviews conducted by clinicians to assess the validity of the criteria.
METHODS: A total of 250 teenagers between the ages of 10 and 19 were recruited, including 148 girls and 102 boys. All responders received the PHQ-9 in both Swahili and English at the same time. Clinicians then examined teenagers using the Kiddie Schedule of Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia to ascertain whether or not they were currently exhibiting signs of major depressive disorder. Using receiver operating characteristic curves, the sensitivity, specificity, Positive Predictive Value (PPV), negative predictive value, and likelihood ratios for various cut-off scores for the PHQ-9 were examined.
RESULTS: For the PHQ-9, the English version's internal consistency was 0.862, and the Swahili version's was 0.834. On the basis of receiver operating characteristic analysis, the areas under the curve for the Swahili and English versions, respectively, were 0.89 and 0.87. In the English-language version, a cut-off of 9 had a sensitivity of 95.0%, specificity of 73.2, Positive Predictive Value (PPV) of 0.23, and Negative Predictive Value (NPV) of 0.99; in the Swahili version, a cut-off of 9 had a sensitivity of 89.0%, specificity of 70.0, PPV of 0.20, and NPV of 0.90.
CONCLUSION: The PHQ-9's psychometric properties were comparable between its Swahili and English adaptations, indicating that it is a valid and reliable tool for identifying adolescent major depressive disorder and can be used in settings with limited resources to identify young people who need mental health support as early as possible.
