Background There is a need for accurate and efficient assessment tools that cover a range of mental health and psychosocial problems. Existing, lengthy self-report assessments may reduce accuracy due to respondent fatigue. Using data from a sample of adults enrolled in a psychotherapy randomized trial in Thailand and a cross-sectional sample of adolescents in Zambia, we leveraged Item Response Theory (IRT) methods to create brief, psychometrically sound, mental health measures. Methods We used graded-response models to refine scales by identifying and removing poor performing items that were not well correlated with the underlying trait, and by identifying well-performing items at varying levels of a latent trait to assist in screening or monitoring purposes. Results In Thailand, the original 17-item depression scale was shortened to seven items and the 30-item Posttraumatic Stress Scale (PTS) was shortened to 10. In Zambia, the Child Posttraumatic Stress Scale (CPSS) was shortened from 17 items to six. Shortened scales in both settings retained the strength of their psychometric properties. When examining longitudinal intervention effects in Thailand, effect sizes were comparable in magnitude for the shortened and standard versions. Conclusions Using Item Response Theory (IRT) we created shortened valid measures that can be used to help guide clinical decisions and function as longitudinal research tools. The results of this analysis demonstrate the reliability and validity of shortened scales in each of the two settings and an approach that can be generalized more broadly to help improve screening, monitoring, and evaluation of mental health and psychosocial programs globally.

中文翻译：

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少即是多：使用项目反应理论减少心理健康和心理社会工具的冗余

背景 需要涵盖一系列心理健康和心理社会问题的准确和有效的评估工具。现有的、冗长的自我报告评估可能会因受访者疲劳而降低准确性。我们利用泰国参加心理治疗随机试验的成年人样本和赞比亚青少年的横断面样本数据，利用项目反应理论 (IRT) 方法创建简短、心理测量学上合理的心理健康测量。方法 我们使用分级反应模型来细化量表，方法是识别和删除与潜在特征没有很好相关性的表现不佳的项目，并通过在潜在特征的不同水平上识别表现良好的项目来帮助筛选或监测目的。结果在泰国，原来的 17 项抑郁量表缩短为 7 项，30 项创伤后压力量表（PTS）缩短为 10 项。在赞比亚，儿童创伤后压力量表（CPSS）从 17 项缩短为 6 项。两种设置中的缩短量表都保留了其心理测量特性的强度。在泰国检查纵向干预效果时，缩短版和标准版的效果大小相当。结论 使用项目反应理论 (IRT)，我们创建了缩短的有效措施，可用于帮助指导临床决策和作为纵向研究工具。这项分析的结果证明了缩短量表在两种环境中的可靠性和有效性，以及一种可以更广泛地推广以帮助改善筛查、监测、