Measurement invariance of the Hopkins Symptoms Checklist: a novel multigroup alignment analytic approach to a large epidemiological sample across eight conflict-affected districts from a nation-wide survey in Sri Lanka

摘要

BackgroundThe alignment method, a novel psychometric approach, represents a more flexible procedure for establishing measurement invariance in geographically, ethnically, or linguistically diverse samples, especially in large epidemiological surveys. Although the Hopkins Symptoms Checklist (HSCL-25) has been used extensively in the field to assess anxiety and depressive symptoms, questions remain about the comparability of findings when the instrument is applied across regions in large-scale national surveys.