Psychosocial remission in schizophrenia: developing a clinician-rated scale

There is a growing awareness of the importance of psychosocial factors incorporated in treatment goals in schizophrenic patients. Remission, both symptomatic and psychosocial, is now an achievable goal in a substantial proportion of patients. Thus, the development of handy tools to quantify outcomes is called for.

To develop a brief, clinician-rated scale for the assessment of psychosocial remission in schizophrenia (the Psychosocial Remission in Schizophrenia [PSRS] Scale). The scale is to match the quantification of symptomatic remission as delineated by the American Psychiatric Association task force.

A "bank" of 124 questions pertaining to psychosocial remission was derived from published scales reflecting 2 domains: quality of life and activities of daily living. Psychiatrists, residents, psychiatric nurses, and community nurses were presented with the questions. All were asked to choose the 8 items they considered as reflecting the essence of psychosocial remission. Interrater reliability of the final scale version was assessed among psychiatrists.

The questions' bank was reviewed by 429 mental health professionals. The 4 items found to be most frequently sanctioned in the quality-of-life domain were (a) familial relations (endorsed by 78% of participants), (b) understanding and self-awareness (46%), (c) energy (58%), and (d) interest in everyday life (38%). The 4 items sanctioned in the instrumental activities of daily living domain were (a) self-care (86%), (b) activism (65%), (c) responsibility for medications (54%), and (d) use of community services (32%). Interrater reliability among 70 psychiatrists ranged from 0.67 to 0.83.

The PSRS is an 8-item scale quantifying psychosocial remission in schizophrenia in a manner that complements symptomatic assessment of remission. The PSRS may be useful for both research and clinical evaluation.