How to measure the mental health of teachers? psychometric properties of the GHQ-12 in a large sampl
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Measuring the Mental Health of Teachers: Psychometric Properties of the GHQ-12
Introduction to GHQ-12 for Teacher Mental Health Assessment
The General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12) is a widely recognized tool for assessing mental health. It has been validated across various populations, including teachers, to measure psychological distress and general mental health. This article synthesizes research on the psychometric properties of the GHQ-12 in different teacher populations, highlighting its reliability, validity, and factor structure.
Reliability and Validity of GHQ-12 in Teacher Populations
German Teachers
A study involving a large sample of German teachers (N = 3996) demonstrated that the GHQ-12 has good to very good reliability, with high correspondence to burnout and life satisfaction scales. The principal axis factor analysis supported a two-factor structure: "depression/stress" and "loss of confidence". This indicates that the GHQ-12 is a reliable and valid tool for assessing mental health in German teachers.
Korean Early Childhood Teachers
In a sample of Korean early childhood teachers, the GHQ-12 also showed strong psychometric properties. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed a three-factor model comprising anhedonia/sleep disturbance, social performance, and loss of confidence. The instrument demonstrated superior reliability with adequate internal consistency and composite reliability. This suggests that the GHQ-12 is effective for screening psychiatric symptoms in this demographic.
Pakistani University Teachers
Among Pakistani university teachers, the GHQ-12 exhibited high reliability, with inter-item correlations ranging from 0.60 to 0.90 and Cronbach's alphas between 0.80 and 0.95. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the validity of the scale, with factor loadings ranging from 0.70 to 0.90. These findings support the use of the GHQ-12 as a reliable and valid instrument for assessing mental health in Pakistani university teachers.
Factor Structure of GHQ-12
Meta-Analytic Findings
Despite its widespread use, the internal structure of the GHQ-12 has been debated. Two meta-analyses examined its dimensionality. The first meta-analysis, using data from 38 primary studies (total N = 76,473), identified two factors formed by negatively and positively worded items. The second meta-analysis, involving 410,640 participants from 84 independent samples, confirmed this two-dimensional structure. However, bifactor modeling indicated that most variance was explained by a general factor, suggesting that the GHQ-12 is essentially unidimensional. Therefore, it is recommended to interpret the GHQ-12 as a measure of general mental health rather than distinct subscales.
Conclusion
The GHQ-12 is a reliable and valid tool for assessing the mental health of teachers across different cultural contexts. While it shows a two-factor structure in some studies, meta-analytic evidence suggests it is best interpreted as a unidimensional measure of general mental health. This makes the GHQ-12 a valuable instrument for identifying psychological distress and promoting mental health interventions among teachers.
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