Reliability and Validity of the SA-45: Further Evidence from a Primary Care Setting

A project designed to demonstrate the benefits of integrating behavioral healthcare services in primary medical care settings provided an opportunity to further investigate the psychometric properties of the SA-45 using data from a sample of 126 adults seeking medical services in a family practice setting. Specifically, the appropriateness of the SA-45's adult nonpatient norms, as well as cross-validation of its test-retest reliability and construct validity, was investigated from the first set of data gathered for this project. The results suggested that use of the SA-45 nonpatient norms with primary care populations is appropriate. Three-month test-retest correlations between Depression scale scores and SA-45 and SA-24-predicted GSI scores were found to be moderate but highly significant. In addition, correlations among the SA-45 scales and indices and their correlations with the SF-12 Mental and Physical Component Summary scales added further support for the psychometric integrity of the SA-45. Finally, only partial indirect support was obtained for the SA-45's ability to accurately classify patients as requiring further evaluation for behavioral health problems. Limitations of the study are discussed and suggestions for future research are presented.