Author(s)

Ibrahim A. Kira^1,2, Hanaa Shuwiekh³, Justyna Kucharska⁴

¹Center for Cumulative Trauma Studies, Stone Mountain, Georgia, USA.
²The Center for Stress, Trauma and Resiliency, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
³Fayoum University, Fayoum, Egypt.
⁴Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.

The goal of this paper is to develop a valid and reliable screening tool for mental health that is based on empirically and conceptually valid structure of psychopathology. Recently several studies of the structure of psychopathology found a general factor and three specific factors: internalizing, externalizing and thought disorder. We adapted the previously validated GAIN Short Screener to include the thought disorder that was not included in its original version and further developed its internalizing subscale. We conducted an exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis of the new adapted measure and produced 20 items screening tool that parsimoniously represents the three factors. The adapted screener and its subscales were found to have good reliability, stability, structural validity in two Egyptian and Polish samples. Additionally, all its subscales significantly correlated with different trauma types and with cumulative trauma, and negatively with self-esteem. The new adapted measure is the first that is based on robust scientific evidence of the structure of psychopathology and can be used in a broad scope of settings.

Screening for Mental Health, Structure of Psychopathology, Internalizing, Externalizing, Thought Disorder, Stress and Trauma

Kira, I. , Shuwiekh, H. and Kucharska, J. (2017) Screening for Psychopathology Using the Three Factors Model of the Structure of Psychopathology: A Modified Form of GAIN Short Screener. Psychology, 8, 2410-2427. doi: 10.4236/psych.2017.814152.