Validation of the hebrew and arabic versions of the outcome questionnaire (OQ-45)

Background: Measuring the progress of mental health treatment aids in assessment and monitoring of psychotherapeutic outcomes. The OQ-45 is a widely accepted measure of such outcomes. The aim of this study was to validate the Hebrew and Arabic versions of the OQ-45. Method: Data were collected from three samples: nonpatient university students (n=189), university mental health clinic patients (n=37), and outpatient mental health clinic patients (n=135). Subjects completed the OQ-45 as well as the BSI and PHQ-9 questionnaires. Results: Test-retest and internal reliability, and concurrent and discriminative validity of both OQ-45 versions were satisfactory. Sensitivity of the Hebrew and Arabic versions was 0.70 and 0.80, respectively, and the specificity was 0.69and 0.93, respectively. Sensitivity-to-change was noted only for the Symptom Distress (SD) subscale. Limitations: Sensitivity-to-change was not demonstrated for the total OQ-45, possibly due to a too-short follow-up period. Conclusions: Adequate psychometric properties of the Hebrew and Arabic OQ-45 suggest that they can serve as useful measures of mental health treatment in Israel. Further research is necessary to confirm norms, cut-off scores and sensitivity-to-change using a larger representative population and diverse types of treatment over a longer period of time.