Arabic version of the Global Mental Health Assessment Tool-Primary Care version [GMHAT/PC]: a validity and feasibility study

ABSTRACT

Mental health services are far from satisfactory in the Eastern Mediterranean Region. The Global Mental Health Assessment Tool-Primary Care version [GMHAT/PC] is a semi-structured, computerized clinical assessment tool that was developed to assist health workers in making quick, convenient and comprehensive standardized mental health assessments. A study was carried out in the United Arab Emirates to evaluate the validity and feasibility of the Arabic version of the GMHAT/PC. Mental health nurses administered the GMHAT/PC Arabic version to 50 patients in mental health and rehabilitation settings and their GMHAT/PC diagnosis was compared with the psychiatrist's independent ICD-10 based clinical diagnosis on the same patients. The nurses found GMHAT/PC easy to administer in an average of 16 minutes. The GMHAT/PC-based diagnosis had a good agreement with the psychiatrist's diagnosis [kappa = 0.91] and a high sensitivity [97%] and specificity [94%]