Validation of Chinese Version of Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale-6 in Clinical Setting: A Preliminary Study

The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale-6 (PANSS-6) is a brief measure to assess the core symptoms of schizophrenia. Psychometric characteristics of PANSS-6 in clinical settings are to be determined. We conducted this study among Chinese inpatients of schizophrenia in clinical settings, to determine psychometric characteristics of PANSS-6, and its' accuracy for identifying antipsychotic efficacy.

Two hundred sixteen inpatients of schizophrenia were interviewed at baseline, week 4 and week 8 by experienced psychiatrists to collect information for rating PANSS-30 and PANSS-6. Internal consistency was estimated by the Cronbach's α; criterion validity was determined by Spearman's correlations between sum scores of PANSS-6 and PANSS-30; factorial validity was determined by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA); the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV); and negative predictive value (NPV) of PANSS-6 for identifying responders and remitters were calculated.

The Cronbach's α coefficients of PANSS-6 were 0.72 (95% CI: 0.66-0.78) at baseline. Sum scores of PANSS-6 were significantly correlated with that of PANSS-30. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed this 2-factor model fit well: χ²/df = 1.331, P = .223; CFI = 0.994; TLI = 0.988, RMSEA = 0.037 (90% CI: 0.000-0.090); SRMR = 0.033. Standard factor loadings of each item ranged from 0.60 to 0.89. At week 8, 92 (48.42%) and 63 (33.16%) inpatients were classified as responders and remitters. The sensitivity of PANSS-6 for identifying responders and remitters was 0.77 and 1.0, specificities were 0.84 and 0.86.

Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale-6 is a sound scale for measuring psychotic severity and monitoring treatment outcomes of schizophrenia in clinical settings.