Hamburg modules for the assessment of psychosocial health (HEALTH) - Psychometric analysis of a new self-report questionnaire for the multidimensional assessment of psychosocial health

Purpose: Psychosocial factors affect the onset and course of several, particularly chronic diseases, thus being important components of rehabilitative interventions. As a prerequisite for an adequate consideration of psychosocial aspects in diagnostic assessment, therapy evaluation, and quality assurance of medical care, appropriate assessment tools are needed. To date, there are only few instruments, allowing a comprehensive, generic, and economical evaluation of psychosocial health aspects. The present paper hence introduces a new self-report questionnaire for the multidimensional assessment of psychosocial health aspects in various, particularly chronic diseases. Materials and methods: The HEALTH questionnaire consists of 79 items, which are assigned to seven discrete modules. As part of a nationwide clinical-epidemiological study in primary care (DETECT) n=5.630 patients completed the questionnaire. Psychometric analyses were conducted to examine the feasibility, dimensional structure, reliability, and validity of the HEALTH modules. Clinical information from treating physicians and patients were used for validation. Results: The HEALTH questionnaire proves to be well accepted and feasible under routine conditions. Factor analyses confirm the intended dimensional configuration and the relative independence of modules. The HEALTH scales reveal high reliability, preliminary evidence of their construct and differential validity are demonstrated. Conclusions: The new HEALTH questionnaire allows for the time-economic and comprehensive assessment of generic aspects of psychosocial practice. Its modular construction allows a flexible adaptation to the clinical context. For the examination of more differentiated research questions, more specific supplementary modules should be adopted.