Skip to main content

Discussion

By

Discussion

It was found that clinical trials in schizophrenia are likely to utilize the PANSS for psychopathology as well as the set of AIMS, BARS and SAS for EPS assessment. Overall frequency in the assessment scales for schizophrenia in an effort to evaluate multiple domains within the illness appeared to be similar across years, except for more recent attention on cognition, functioning and subjective perspectives. The PANSS together with the set of AIMS, BARS and SAS may be regarded as ‘the standard’ in clinical trials for schizophrenia. This ‘standard’ set of assessment scales is expected to take about 60 minutes (30–40/5–10/10/10 minutes for the PANSS/AIMS/BARS/SAS, respectively).2 Such a time requirement obviously represents an obstacle for real-world practice.

 

Studies have utilized different scales for their different interests and we can not be entirely certain about which scales are adequate in a specific study. It is important to acknowledge that all assessment scales do have some pertinence across multiple illness domains. Furthermore, contrary to the naming, the QLS for example was designed to assess deficit symptoms and can well be regarded as a functional outcome measure in schizophrenia. On the other hand, an interpretation of clinical relevance on improvements in a part of the scales, or in subscales within the scale, remains somewhat complex although such a data presentation is sometimes found to focus on statistically significant differences.

 

Limitations of this paper include a limited number of years and studies investigated and an arbitrary classification of outcomes into domains. Outcome measures may be in part guided by the nature of the study (e.g., pharmacologic versus psychosocial) or the setting (e.g., real-world versus research). The year of publication (or tradition) of each rating scale is also an important factor since rating scales would require some time to become familiarized with (and years that accompany the citations serve to have a sense of the ‘age’ of the scales). Challenges with the existing rating scales are discussed below.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Your Thoughts?

Popular posts from this blog

ICD-11 Criteria for Depression (Recurrent Depressive Disorder) 6A71

By
ICD-11 Criteria for Depression (Recurrent Depressive Disorder) 6A71 Recurrent depressive disorder is characterised by a history or at least two depressive episodes separated by at least several months without significant mood disturbance. A depressive episode is characterised by a period of depressed mood or diminished interest in activities occurring most of the day, nearly every day during a period lasting at least two weeks accompanied by other symptoms such as difficulty concentrating, feelings of worthlessness or excessive or inappropriate guilt, hopelessness, recurrent thoughts of death or suicide, changes in appetite or sleep, psychomotor agitation or retardation, and reduced energy or fatigue. There have never been any prior manic, hypomanic, or mixed episodes, which would indicate the presence of a Bipolar disorder. Inclusions:                Seasonal depressive disorder Exclusions:    ...
Post a Comment
Read more

ICD-11 Criteria for Schizophrenia (6A20 )

By
ICD-11 Criteria for Schizophrenia (6A20 ) Schizophrenia is characterised by disturbances in multiple mental modalities, including thinking (e.g., delusions, disorganisation in the form of thought), perception (e.g., hallucinations), self-experience (e.g., the experience that one's feelings, impulses, thoughts, or behaviour are under the control of an external force), cognition (e.g., impaired attention, verbal memory, and social cognition), volition (e.g., loss of motivation), affect (e.g., blunted emotional expression), and behaviour (e.g., behaviour that appears bizarre or purposeless, unpredictable or inappropriate emotional responses that interfere with the organisation of behaviour). Psychomotor disturbances, including catatonia, may be present. Persistent delusions, persistent hallucinations, thought disorder, and experiences of influence, passivity, or control are considered core symptoms. Symptoms must have persisted for at least one month in order for a diagnosis of schi...
Post a Comment
Read more

ADVOKATE: A Mnemonic Tool for the Assessment of Eyewitness Evidence

By
ADVOKATE: A Mnemonic Tool for Assessment of Eyewitness Evidence A tool for assessing eyewitness  ADVOKATE is a tool designed to assess eyewitness evidence and how much it is reliable. It requires the user to respond to several statements/questions. Forensic psychologists, police or investigative officer can do it. The mnemonic ADVOKATE stands for: A = amount of time under observation (event and act) D = distance from suspect V = visibility (night-day, lighting) O = obstruction to the view of the witness K = known or seen before when and where (suspect) A = any special reason for remembering the subject T = time-lapse (how long has it been since witness saw suspect) E = error or material discrepancy between the description given first or any subsequent accounts by a witness.  Working with suspects (college.police.uk)
Post a Comment
Read more