Psychometric properties and factor invariance for the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28): study in Peruvian population exposed to the COVID-19 pandemic

Large-scale epidemics are known to significantly disrupt the mental health and perceived well-being of most populations. In spite of the wide range of screening tools, there are not many reliable and widespread tools for the identification of psychological symptoms in non-clinical populations during a health crisis. Objective The aim of this study was to conduct a psychometric analysis of the Goldberg’s GHQ-28 (1) through a sample of Peruvian adults using confirmatory factor analysis. Materials and methods 434 individuals have been examined, studying the goodness and structure of the Goldberg GHQ-28 questionnaire. Result We found high reliability indicating optimal values (α by Cronbach = .829), also there are four correlated factors that show strict invariance among the 28 items. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) were used to examine the structure of the subscales. There are high levels of anxiety (X=1.01) and social dysfunction (X=1.21) in the assessed sampling. Conclusion The factorial structure obtained in this study is similar to that originally described by the researchers involved in the original questionnaire. It is concluded that GHQ-28 is suitable to explore prevalence of psychopathologies in emergency contexts and social isolation for general non-psychiatric population.