Reports outline schizophrenia study findings from I. Johnson and colleagues

The purpose of our study was to create a scale to collect subjective cognitive complaints of patients suffering from schizophrenia with Tunisian Arabic dialect as mother tongue and to proceed to a validation study of this scale."

"The authors constructed the Self-Assessment Scale of Cognitive Complaints in Schizophrenia (SASCCS) based on a questionnaire covering five cognitive domains which are the most frequently reported in the literature to be impaired in schizophrenia. The scale consisted of 21 likert-type questions dealing with memory, attention, executive functions, language and praxia. In a second time, the authors proceeded to the study of psychometric qualities of the scale among 105 patients suffering from schizophrenia spectrum disorders (based on DSM-IV criteria). were evaluated using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), the Global Assessment Functioning Scale (GAF scale) and the Calgary Depression Scale (CDS). The scale's reliability was proven to be good through Cronbach alpha coefficient equal to 0.85 and showing its good internal consistency. The intra-class correlation coefficient at 11 weeks was equal to 0.77 suggesting a good stability over time. Principal component analysis with Oblimin rotation was performed and yielded to six factors accounting for 58.28% of the total variance of the scale. Given the good psychometric properties that have been revealed in this study, the SASCCS seems to be reliable to measure schizophrenic patients' perception of their own cognitive impairment. This kind of evaluation can't substitute for objective measures of cognitive performances in schizophrenia," wrote I. Johnson and colleagues (see also Schizophrenia).

The researchers concluded: "The purpose of such an evaluation is to permit to the patient to express his own well-being and satisfaction of quality of life."

Johnson and colleagues published their study in BMC Psychiatry (The Self-Assessment Scale of Cognitive Complaints in Schizophrenia: A validation study in Tunisian population. BMC Psychiatry, 2009;9():66).

For additional information, contact I. Johnson, Razi Hospital, Dept. of Psychiatry B, Research Unit Cognitive Dysfunct Psychiatry Diseases, 24 Rue Orangers, La Manouba, Tunisia.

Publisher contact information for the journal BMC Psychiatry is: Biomedical Central Ltd., 236 Grays Inn Rd., Floor 6, London WC1X 8HL, England.