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Public health
Protocol
Getting it Right: study protocol to determine the diagnostic accuracy of a culturally-specific measure to screen for depression in Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people
  1. Maree L Hackett1,2,
  2. Sara Farnbach1,
  3. Nick Glozier3,
  4. Timothy Skinner4,
  5. Armando Teixeira-Pinto5,
  6. Deborah Askew6,7,
  7. Graham Gee8,
  8. Alan Cass9,
  9. Alex Brown10
  1. 1Neurological and Mental Health Division, The George Institute for Global Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
  2. 2University of Central Lancashire, Preston, Lancashire, UK
  3. 3Brain and Mind Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
  4. 4Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
  5. 5School of Public Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
  6. 6Southern Queensland Centre of Excellence in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Primary Health Care, Metro South Health, Queensland Health, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
  7. 7Discipline of General Practice, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
  8. 8Victorian Aboriginal Health Service, Fitzroy, Victoria, Australia
  9. 9Menzies School of Health Research, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
  10. 10South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
  1. Correspondence to Dr Maree L Hackett; mhackett{at}georgeinstitute.org.au

Abstract

Introduction A freely available, culturally valid depression screening tool is required for use by primary care services across Australia to screen for depression in Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander populations. This is the protocol for a study aiming to determine the validity, sensitivity and specificity of the culturally adapted 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (aPHQ-9).

Methods and analysis Cross-sectional validation study. A total of 500 people who self-identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, are ≥18 years of age, attending 1 of 10 primary healthcare services or service events across Australia and able to communicate sufficiently to answer study questions will be recruited. All participants will complete the aPHQ-9 and the criterion standard MINI International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) 6.0.0. The primary outcome is the criterion validity of the aPHQ-9. Process outcomes related to acceptability and feasibility of the aPHQ-9 will be analysed only if the measure is found to be valid.

Ethics and dissemination Lead ethical approval was obtained jointly from the University of Sydney Human Research Ethics Committee (project 2014/361) and the Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council of New South Wales (project 1044/14). Results will be disseminated via the usual scientific forums, including peer-reviewed publications and presentations at international conferences following presentation to, discussion with and approval by participating primary healthcare service staff and community.

Trial registration number ACTRN12614000705684.

  • Indigenous Australians
  • Depression
  • Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9)
  • MENTAL HEALTH

This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2016-015009

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors MLH, NG, TS, AC and AB conceived the project. All authors (MLH, SF, NG, TS, AT-P, DA, GG, AC and AB) contributed to the design of the study, are involved in the implementation of the project and had the final responsibility for the decision to submit for publication.

    • Funding This work was supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), Australia grant number APP101767. During the completion of this work, MLH was in receipt of a National Heart Foundation Future Leader Fellowship #100034, SF was in receipt of a University of Sydney Faculty of Medicine Cross Cultural Public Health Research Award and a George Institute for Global Health John Chalmers Program Grant Scholarship, AT-P is partially supported by the NHMRC Program Grant BeatCKD (APP1092957) and AB was in receipt of a Sylvia and Charles Viertel Charitable Foundation Senior Medical Research Fellowship. All authors had full access to the data. All authors had the final responsibility for the decision to submit for publication.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Ethics approval University of Sydney Human Research Ethics Committee (project 2014/361) and the Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council of New South Wales (project 1044/14).

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; peer reviewed for ethical and funding approval prior to submission.