TY - JOUR
T1 - Assessing everyday functioning in schizophrenia
T2 - Not all informants seem equally informative
AU - Sabbag, Samir
AU - Twamley, Elizabeth M.
AU - Vella, Lea
AU - Heaton, Robert K.
AU - Patterson, Thomas L.
AU - Harvey, Philip D.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, who provided no input into the analyses and presentation of these data.
PY - 2011/9
Y1 - 2011/9
N2 - Self reports of everyday functioning on the part of people with schizophrenia have been found to be poorly correlated with the reports of other informants and with their own performance of tests of cognition and functional abilities. However, it is not clear which informants are best for providing accurate reports of everyday functioning. This study examined the convergence between self-reports on the part of people with schizophrenia (n = 193), whose real-world functioning was rated by a friend or relative (n = 154), or a high contact clinician (n = 39) across 6 functional status rating scales. In addition, correlations between these reports and patient's performance on neuropsychological tests and a performance-based measure of functional capacity were also calculated. For convergence between raters, friend or relative informants and patient reports were significantly correlated for 4/6 rating scales. For the smaller sample of clinician informants, the correlations were significant on 2/6 scales. In the analyses of convergence between patient performance scores and functioning ratings, only 1/12 correlations between patient report and performance were significant, while friend or relative reports also were only correlated with performance on one rating scale. In contrast, clinician reports of functioning were correlated with patients' functional capacity performance on 4/6 rating scales and with neuropsychological test performance on 2/6. High contact clinicians appear to generate ratings of everyday functioning that are more closely linked to patients' ability scores than friend or relative informants. Later analyses will determine if there are differences between friend or relative informants.
AB - Self reports of everyday functioning on the part of people with schizophrenia have been found to be poorly correlated with the reports of other informants and with their own performance of tests of cognition and functional abilities. However, it is not clear which informants are best for providing accurate reports of everyday functioning. This study examined the convergence between self-reports on the part of people with schizophrenia (n = 193), whose real-world functioning was rated by a friend or relative (n = 154), or a high contact clinician (n = 39) across 6 functional status rating scales. In addition, correlations between these reports and patient's performance on neuropsychological tests and a performance-based measure of functional capacity were also calculated. For convergence between raters, friend or relative informants and patient reports were significantly correlated for 4/6 rating scales. For the smaller sample of clinician informants, the correlations were significant on 2/6 scales. In the analyses of convergence between patient performance scores and functioning ratings, only 1/12 correlations between patient report and performance were significant, while friend or relative reports also were only correlated with performance on one rating scale. In contrast, clinician reports of functioning were correlated with patients' functional capacity performance on 4/6 rating scales and with neuropsychological test performance on 2/6. High contact clinicians appear to generate ratings of everyday functioning that are more closely linked to patients' ability scores than friend or relative informants. Later analyses will determine if there are differences between friend or relative informants.
KW - Disability
KW - Neuropsychology
KW - Schziophrenia
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U2 - 10.1016/j.schres.2011.05.003
DO - 10.1016/j.schres.2011.05.003
M3 - Article
C2 - 21620682
AN - SCOPUS:80051789101
VL - 131
SP - 250
EP - 255
JO - Schizophrenia Research
JF - Schizophrenia Research
SN - 0920-9964
IS - 1-3
ER -