1. Serhii Dembitskyi, PhD
Institute of Sociology NAS of Ukraine
Department of the Methodology and Methods of Sociology
Senior Research Fellow
SCL-9-NR: a brief test for measurement of psychological distress in survey research

2. SCL-90-R and its shorter versions
Symptomatic dimension
SCL-90-R
BSI-53
BSI-18
SCL-14
SCL-9-K
Somatization 12 7 6 4 1
Obsessive-compulsive 10 -
Interpersonal sensitivity 9
Depression 13
Anxiety
Hostility 5
Phobic anxiety
Paranoid ideation
Psychoticism
Additional items
Total 90 53 18 14

3. 41-year story: Derogatis, Panina, Golovaha and me
1975: L. Derogatis developed SCL-90-R
1997, 1999: N. Panina included SCL-90-R in two national surveys in Ukraine
2015: E. Golovaha gave me a task to develop brief SCL test on the basis of surveys in 1997 and 1999
2015 – 2016: I’ve analyzed previous data and conducted several researches to construct and validate SCL-9-NR

4. Some problems of SCL-90-R and its shorter versions
SCL-90-R is to big (90 items) for survey researches with questioner, which includes a lot of another questions
[For me] SCL-90-R and its shorter versions have quite strange (too far from normality) index distributions. For example

5. Items selection (N = 5689, p < 0.001)
Symptomatic dimension
Indicator
r (GSI*)
r (sdi**)
Hostility
Feeling easily annoyed or irritated
0.61
0.75
Obsessive-compulsive
Trouble concentrating
0.64
0.71
Depression
Feeling blue
0.72
Interpersonal sensitivity
Your feeling being easily hurt
0.63
Paranoid ideation
Feeling that most people cannot be trusted
0.53
Anxiety
Feeling tense or keyed up
0.65
0.70
Somatization
Feeling weak in parts of your body
0.69
0.76
Phobic anxiety
Feeling nervous when you are left alone
0.56
0.68
Psychoticism
The idea that something serious is wrong with your body
0.57
0.67
Integral index based on the above indicators
0.91 -
* General severity index (90 items sum).
** Symptomatic dimension index (corresponding items sum).

6. Changing of task formulation and response scale
Part or the test
Derogatis version
My version (rough translation)
Task formulation
Attached is a list of problems and complaints that people have. Please read each one carefully. After you have done so, please fill in the number (0 to 4, see below) which best describes how much that problem has bothered or distress you during the past 4 weeks including today. Choose only one number for each problem and do not skip any items. If you change your mind, erase your first answer and fill in the new one. All questionnaires will be treated confidentially!
When faced with certain life situations, many people have different experiences, feelings, and thoughts. Below is a list of the most common states of this kind. Rate how often you have experienced each of them lately: never, rarely, regularly, almost constantly. Choose only one answer for each point.
Response scale
0. Not at all
1. A little bit
2. Moderately
3. Quite a bit
4. Extremely
0. Never
1. Rarely
2. Regularly
3. Almost constantly

7. Online pilot surveys: Kiev and Lvov (2015)
Sample size
Kiev, np > 0.05
Lvov, np > 0.05
100
467 of 1000
349 of 1000 50
764 of 1000
659 of 1000 25
875 of 1000
782 of 1000
Shapiro–Wilk test results for samples of different size (1000 samples bootstrapping)

8. Old and new 9-items versions in the national surveys: 1999 vs 2016
Mean = 6.3
Sd = 5.4
1st Quartile = 2.0
Median = 6.0
3st Quartile = 9.0
Mean = 9.7
Sd = 5.4
1st Quartile = 6.0
Median = 9.0
3st Quartile = 13.0
Sample size
1999, np > 0.05
2016, np > 0.05
100
0 of 1000
457 of 1000 50
39 of 1000
809 of 1000 25
369 of 1000
901 of 1000
Shapiro–Wilk test results for samples of different size (1000 samples bootstrapping)

9. Validation national surveys: construct validity (p < 0.001)
Independent variable
Derogatis version (9 items)
My version
Ukraine, 1997
Ukraine, 1999
Ukraine, 2016 (main)*
Ukraine, (TMA)** r R2 N
1776
1769
1689 92
Self-appraisal of the state of health
-0.25
0.063
-0.34
0.115
-0.44
0.191
-0.37
0.083
Social well being***
-0.20
0.024
-0.29
0.045
-0.40
-0.52
0.260
Total R2
0.087
0.160
0.254
0.343
* Main group of respondents.
** Respondents, who were living on the territory of military actions.
*** On basis of 20-items well-being scale (E. Golovaha, N. Panina).

10. Validation surveys: descriptive statistics + criterion validity
Parameter
Kiev
Lvov
Chernigov (MI)*
Ukraine (main)**
Ukraine (TMA)***
Year
2015
2016
Survey mode
Online
Self-filling N
200
109
1689 92
Mean
11.9
11.4
15.3
9.7
14.0
Standard deviation
4.1
5.0
5.4
5.9
Minimum
2.0
0.0
4.0
1st Quartile
9.0
12.0
6.0
Median
11.0
16.0
15.0
3st Quartile
19.0
13.0
18.0
Maximum
27.0
25.0
24.0
* Respondents with mental illness (Chernigov Psychoneurological Hospital: Center for the treatment of psychosomatic disorders, neuroses, borderline and crisis states).
** Main group of respondents (national survey).
*** Respondents, who were living on the territory of military actions (national survey).

11. Validation surveys: factor validity
Parameter
Kiev
Lvov
Chernigov (MI)*
Ukraine (main)**
Ukraine (TMA)***
Year
2015
2016
Survey mode
Online
Self-filling N
200
176
1689 92
χ2 (DWLS)
63.1
42.1
18.7
339.3
37.6 DF 27
χ2 / DF
2.3
1.6
0.7
12.6
1.4
p-value (> 0.05)
0.00
0.03
0.88
0.08
RMSEA (< 0.08)
0.05
0.07
CFI (> 0.95)
0.96
0.99
1.00
TLI (> 0.95)
0.95
0.98
1.01
* Respondents with mental illness (Chernigov Psychoneurological Hospital).
** Main group of respondents (national survey).
*** Respondents, who were living on the territory of military actions (national survey).

12. Reliability: internal
Parameter
Kiev
Lvov
Chernigov (MI)*
Ukraine (main)**
Ukraine (TMA)***
Year
2015
2016
Survey mode
Online
Self-filling N
200
176
1689 92
Cronbach’s Alpha (> 0.70)
0.75
0.79
0.83
0.89
0.91
Reliability: test-retest
Indicator
Gamma
Feeling easily annoyed or irritated
0.72
Trouble concentrating
0.74
Feeling blue
0.69
Your feeling being easily hurt
0.52
Feeling that most people cannot be trusted
0.79
Feeling tense or keyed up
0.55
Feeling weak in parts of your body
0.77
Feeling nervous when you are left alone
0.36
The idea that something serious is wrong with your body
0.73
Place: Kiev and Kiev region (2016)
Survey mode: Self-filling
The interval between surveys: 3 weeks
N = 60
Result: r = 0.76, p < 0.001

13. Main rival: SCL-9-NR vs K10 (R. Kessler), r = 0.74
K10: AUC = 0.69
SCL-9-NR: AUC = 0.82
SCL-13-NR: AUC = 0.99
Main argument – K10 has good prediction power. Well… maybe not in Ukraine.
Main task of SCL-9-NR – not to predict mental illness, but measure distress level of respondents.
Plus 2 depression and 2 somatization items for increasing test prediction power.

14. Thank you for your attention!
Serhii Dembitskyi, PhD
Institute of Sociology NAS of Ukraine
Department of the Methodology and Methods of Sociology
Senior Research Fellow
Thank you for your attention!
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