The reliability and validity of the MATRICS functional assessment battery

The Measurement and Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia (MATRICS) initiative was designed to encourage the development of cognitive enhancing agents for schizophrenia. For a medication to receive this indication, regulatory agencies require evidence of improvement in both cognition and functional outcome. Functional capacity measures typically used in clinical trials as intermediate measures of functional outcome must be adapted to fit different cultural contexts for use internationally. We examined the psychometric properties of the MATRICS Functional Assessment Battery (MFAB), comprised of 2 subtests from the UCSD Performance-based Skills Assessment (UPSA) and one from the Test of Adaptive Behavior in Schizophrenia (TABS) that were rated by experts in a previous study to be the most appropriate functional capacity assessments across different cultural contexts.

Four sites in India administered the MFAB, a brief version of the UPSA, the MATRICS Cognitive Consensus Battery, measures of symptomatology, and a measure of global functional outcome to 141 individuals with schizophrenia at a baseline assessment and at 4 weeks later.

Test-retest reliability based on the intraclass correlation coefficient was significantly better for the UCSD Performance-Based Skills Assessment-Brief (UPSA-B). Pearson correlation coefficients over time were not significantly different for the 2 measures. Only the MFAB was significantly correlated with functional outcome as measured by the Specific Levels of Functioning Scale.

The psychometric properties of the MFAB and UPSA-B were similar. The MATRICS scientific board chose to translate the MFAB into multiple languages for potential use in studies of novel medications seeking an indication for improving cognition in schizophrenia.