An acute psychiatric rating scale for the clinical assessment of functionally disturbed inpatients

A 28-item behavioral rating scale, the Acute Psychiatric Rating Scale (APRS), was developed using factor-analytic methods for the assessment of functionally disturbed psychiatric inpatients. Fifty-eight staff rated 74 patients on the scale. Seven factorial dimensions were extracted comprising neuroticism, aggression, emotional withdrawal, cognitive impairment, schizophrenia, hypomania and self-injuriousness. The scale was evaluated in 4 different psychiatric inpatient units: two acute admission wards, an intensive care unit and a regional secure unit. Behavioral ratings on the scale were related to several patient demographic and treatment variables, including age, sex, marital status, legal status, length of admission and electroconvulsive therapy. The scale was found to possess a clear factorial structure, good interrater reliability and promising clinical validity for further research use in psychiatric inpatient settings.