1. Home
  2. Health Information
  3. NSW Health Survey Program
  4. Mental health
Print this page Reduce font size Increase font size

Mental health

Introduction

Psychological distress has a major effect on the ability of people to work, study, and manage their day-to-day activities. The Kessler 10 Plus (K10+) measure of non-specific psychological distress is included in the New South Wales Population Health Survey to monitor psychological distress in people aged 16 years and over.[1] K10+ contains a 10-item questionnaire that measures symptoms such as anxiety, depression, agitation, and psychological fatigue in the most recent 4-week period, and additional questions to establish the effect of the distress. At both the population level and individual level the K10+ measure is brief and accurate screening scale for mental health.[2-8]

For each of the 10 items in the questionnaire, there is a 5-level response scale based on the amount of time (from none of the time to all of the time) the person experienced the particular symptom. When scoring responses, between 1 and 5 points were assigned to each symptom, with a value of 1 indicating the person experienced the symptom none of the time and 5 indicating all of the time. The total score for each person ranges from 10 points (all responses are none of the time) to 50 points (all responses are all of the time). Responses are classified into 4 categories: low psychological distress when the score is 10-15, moderate psychological distress when the score is 16-21, high psychological distress when the score is 22-29, and very high psychological distress when the score is 30 or higher.

The scores calculated for the New South Wales Population Health Survey are a combination of actual and imputed scores. Where a respondent answered all 10 questions, the score is simply the sum of the individual scores for each question. Where the respondent answered 9 questions, the score for the missing question is imputed as the mean score of the 9 answered questions.

Respondents who scored 16 points and above in the 10 item questionnaire were asked the additional questions to assess the effects of psychological distress on functioning and related factors.

Results

In 2009, 67.2 per cent of adults had low levels of psychological distress in the last 4 weeks, 21.3 per cent had moderate levels, 8.1 per cent had high levels, and 3.4 per cent had very high levels.

When ratings of high and very high were combined, 11.5 per cent of adults experienced high or very high levels of psychological distress in the last 4 weeks. There was no significant difference between males and females. A significantly higher proportion of adults aged 25-34 years (14.8 per cent), and a significantly lower proportion of adults aged 65-74 years (6.0 per cent) and 75 years and over (6.7 per cent), experienced high or very high levels of psychological distress in the last 4 weeks, compared with the overall adult population.

A significantly lower proportion of adults in the first or least disadvantaged quintile (8.4 per cent), and a significantly higher proportion of adults in the fifth or most disadvantaged quintile (13.9 per cent), experienced high or very high levels of psychological distress in the last 4 weeks, compared with the overall adult population.

There was no significant difference between urban and rural health areas. A significantly higher proportion of adults in the Sydney South West Area Health Service (13.9 per cent), and a significantly lower proportion of adults in the Northern Sydney & Central Coast Area Health Service (8.8 per cent), experienced high or very high levels of psychological distress in the last 4 weeks, compared with the overall adult population.

Since 1997, there has been no significant change in the proportion of adults who experienced high or very high levels of psychological distress in the last 4 weeks.

However, since 2008, while there has been no significant change in the proportion of adults who experienced high or very high levels of psychological distress in the last 4 weeks, there has been a significant increase in males (8.5 per cent to 10.7 per cent).

Adults who experienced high or very high psychological distress in the last 4 weeks said their distress was mainly due to physical problems: all of the time (11.3 per cent), most of the time (9.5 per cent), some of the time (21.1 per cent), a little of the time (13.2 per cent), and none of the time (44.9 per cent).

In the last 4 weeks, adults were unable to work or study or manage their day-to-day activities on an average of 0.53 days (0.54 days for males and 0.52 days for females); had to cut down on what they did on an average of 0.74 days (0.60 days for males and 0.88 days for females) in the last 4 weeks; and saw a doctor or other health professional about their psychological distress on an average of 0.12 times (0.09 times for males and 0.16 times for females).

References

  1. National Comorbidity Survey. K10 and K6 Scales. Boston: Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard School of Medicine, 2005. Available online at www.hcp.med.harvard.edu/ncs/k6_scales.php (accessed 6 September 2010).
  2. Andrews G, Slade T. Interpreting Scores on the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10). Aust N Z J Public Health 2001; 25: 494-497. Abstract available online at www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11824981 (accessed 6 September 2010).
  3. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Information paper: Use of the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale in ABS Health Surveys. Catalogue no. 4187.0.55.001. Canberra: ABS, 2003.
  4. Kessler R, Andrews G, Colpe L, Hiripi E, Mroczek D, Normand S-LT, Walters E, Zaslavsky A. Short screening scales to monitor population prevalences and trends in nonspecific psychological distress. Psychol Med 2002; 32: 959-976.
  5. Kessler RC, Andrews G, Colpe LJ, Hiripi E, Mroczek DK, Normand S-LT, Walters EE, Zaslavsky A. Screening for Serious Mental Illness in the General Population. Arch Gen Psychiatry 2003; 60: 184-189.
  6. Furukawa TA, Kessler RC, Slade T, Andrews G. The performance of the K6 and K10 screening scales for psychological distress in the Australian National Survey of Mental Health and Well-being. Psychol Med 2003; 33: 357-362.
  7. Cairney J, Veldhuizen S, Wade TJ, Kurdyak P, Streiner DL. Evaluation of 2 measures of psychological distress as screeners for depression in the general population. Can J Psychiatry 2007; 52: 111-120.
  8. Furukawa TA, Kawakami N, Saitoh M, Ono Y, Nakane Y, Nakamura Y, Tachimori H, Iwata N, Uda H, Nakane H, Watanabe M, Naganuma Y, Hata Y, Kobayashi M, Miyake Y, Takeshima T, Kikkawa T. The performance of the Japanese version of the K6 and K10 in the World Mental Health Survey Japan. Int J Methods Psychiatr Res 2008; 3: 152-158.

Graphs

Source: New South Wales Population Health Survey 2009 (HOIST). Centre for Epidemiology and Research, NSW Department of Health.
Print version: Although this page can be printed directly from your web browser, a higher quality version is available as a PDF file that can be printed or viewed on screen.
Produced by: Centre for Epidemiology and Research, Population Health Division, NSW Department of Health.
Last updated on: 1 January 2011

Print this page Reduce font size Increase font size