Investigating Mental Disturbances Among Inpatients In A General Hospital And The Development Of A Detecting Tool

objective:To determine the prevalence and characteristics of mental disorders among inpatients, to explore the affecting factors and to develop a brief detecting tool for inpatients in general hospital settings,methods:Inpatients able and agree to fill out questionnaires were randomly sampled, served with self-designed instruments to gather general information, along with currently wild-used questionnaires to elicit mental disorders and emotional distress, then interviewed with a structured interview. Descriptive statistics, difference examination and single factor analysis were performed on the data, a detecting tool was formed based on the above results and its psychometric performance (i.e.,the internal validity) was tested using modern item response theory, the external validity was tested by Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve analysis using the interview as gold standard.Results:l.The prevalence of depression, anxiety and somatic symptoms were35.2%、23.9%、26.9%, as to mental disorders the prevalence was12.4%.2. The difference among ages was statistically significant on somatic symptoms, as to depression, the difference was found among wards.3.The mental status of inpatients in general hospital was affected not only by subjective factors, but also objective factors such as medical treatment.4.The Cronbach’s Alpha reliability of the detecting tool was0.797. Each item correlated with the total score of the scale over0.3(p<0.01) representing a good structure validity. Criterion-related validity was0.524、0.525、0.476. The ROC analysis concluded that the sensitivity was84.4%and the specificity was54.6%when detecting mental disorders. The Positive and negative predictive values were20.87%and96.09%respectively, and the area under AUC curve was0.740.Conclusion:1.The prevalence of depression, anxiety and somatic symptoms in the population of inpatients is higher than other groups. 2.The mental status of inpatients is significantly affected by hospitalization stressors, intensified attention is needed in the future studies as well as in the actual clinical practice.3. The sensitivity and negative predictive of the detecting tool suggest a good clinical Promoting significance.1figure,13tables,45references.