Effects of Lavender Inhalation Aromatherapy on Depression in Individuals Undergoing Drug Treatment for Substance Dependence: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Effective brief and broad-based screening for psychological health in large samples is critical to support workplace mental health and wellbeing. The General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) is concise, widely used and inexpensive, offering promise as a useful screening tool within occupational health surveillance programmes, particularly in isolated, confined and unusual or extreme (ICUE) work environments. The original GHQ consisted of 60 items, and while many shorter versions exist, the 12 item GHQ appears most widely used. The popularity of the GHQ-12 can be attributed to its robust psychometric properties and being quick and unobtrusive to administer (Goldberg et al., ; Goldberg & Hillier, ; Goldberg & Williams, ; Wojujutari et al., ). The 12-item GHQ (Goldberg & Williams, ) aims to assess psychological distress by targeting the least-differentiated level of mental illness (that is, the lowest common denominator, shared by most psychiatric diagnoses). It can also be used to quantify psychological adaptability – on a mental wellbeing versus mental distress continuum – by measuring short-term changes in mental health and levels of psychological functioning across fixed time periods. The GHQ-12 comprises six positively and six negatively phrased items (Goldberg et al., ). Good reliability and validity have been reported across international studies, including in worker samples (Hankins, ; Makowska & Merecz, ; Makowska et al., ; Wojujutari et al., ). Additionally, studies reported high validity in developing countries, with little age, gender, ethnic and educational level effect on validity observed across countries and cultures (Goldberg et al., ; Habibi Asgarabad et al., ; King et al., ; Liu et al., ; Wojujutari et al., ). Furthermore, there is substantial evidence of its across contexts (cf. Wojujutari et al., for overview). South African population norms are not yet available.