Validating specific psychopathology scales in older outpatients with schizophrenia

McAdams L.A.; Harris M.J.; Bailey A.; Fell R.; Jeste D.V.

Veterans Affairs Medical Center, 116A, 3350 La Jolla Village Drive, San Diego, CA 92161, USA

To our knowledge, there have been no published studies validating commonly used psychopathology rating scales in older outpatients with schizophrenia. We studied specific psychopathology rating scales (three subscales of the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale: positive symptoms, negative symptoms, and depression subscales; the Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms; the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms; and the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale) in 101 older (age > 45 years) DSM-III-R-diagnosed schizophrenia outpatients. We found high interrater reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient ³ .77) on these scales. Using principal components analysis, we demonstrated satisfactory construct validity, suggesting three factors - positive symptoms, negative symptoms, and depressive symptoms.

Keywords: schizophrenia; adult; aging; article; female; human; major clinical study; male; outpatient; rating scale

J. NERV. MENT. DIS. 184/4 (246-251) 1996