The Arabic Validation of the Hopkins Symptoms Checklist-25 against MINI in a Disadvantaged Suburb of Beirut, Lebanon

Validating instruments for clinical or research use has been one of the challenges of international psychology, especially when the use of such instruments can influence health care, delivery of services and possibly mental health policies. This paper seeks to validate the Arabic version of the Hopkins Symptoms Checklist-25 (HSCL-25) versus the Mini International Neuro-psychiatric Interview (MINI) among married women, aged 18-54 and residing in a disadvantaged southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon. A convenience sample of 153 women were administered both the Arabic HSCL-25 and the MINI, through an interview. Trained interviewers delivered the HSCL-25, while clinical psychologists administered the MINI. Analyses included descriptive statistics and investigations of sensitivity and specificity. The instruments were highly correlated with one another. The cutoff score with the most appropriate balance between sensitivity and specificity was 2.1 for depression (when compared with Arabic validated Beck Depression Index) and 2.0 for anxiety (when compared with the Arabic validated State Trait. These results emphasize the importance of determining cutoff points in the populations where the questionnaires are used and show the high variability of these cutoff points across settings and countries.