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Taking the pulse of the nation: Validating a single-item measure of mental distress

Author

Listed:
  • Ferdi Botha

    (Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic & Social Research,The University of Melbourne)

  • Peter Butterworth

    (Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic & Social Research,The University of Melbourne)

  • Roger Wilkins

    (Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic & Social Research,The University of Melbourne)

Abstract

There are occasions when a very short assessment of mental health or distress is needed. The weekly assessment of distress in Australia during the COVID-19 crisis using the nationally representative Taking the Pulse of the Nation (TTPN) Survey is one example. This paper assesses the psychometric properties of a single-item measure of mental distress against the widely used six-item Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K6). The analysis, based on wave 13 of the TTPN survey, considers data from 1,158 respondents selected from across Australia. The new single-item measure was highly correlated with the K6 (rho = 0.82), the area under the curve (AUC) was 0.93, and at the optimal cut-point the sensitivity was 0.71, the specificity was 0.93, and the proportion of respondents correctly classified by the single-item measure was 0.90. The measure of mental distress developed for the TTPN survey provides a valid measure of population mental distress for circumstances where only a single item can be used.

Suggested Citation

  • Ferdi Botha & Peter Butterworth & Roger Wilkins, 2021. "Taking the pulse of the nation: Validating a single-item measure of mental distress," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2021n06, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    • Handle: RePEc:iae:iaewps:wp2021n06
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    File URL: https://melbourneinstitute.unimelb.edu.au/publications/working-papers/search/result?paper=3821299
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    psychological distress; COVID-19; mental health; measurement;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General

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