Training novice raters on the Negative Symptom Assessment Scale

The Negative Symptom Assessment (NSA), a scale for rating negative symptoms of schizophrenia, has been shown to have high interrater and test-retest reliabilities as well as high concurrent validity with similar instruments. In this study, the facility of clinicians unfamiliar with the NSA to learn this scale was evaluated. After attending a 30-min training lecture, 27 experienced researchers, who had never previously used the NSA, viewed and rated a videotaped, semi-structured NSA interview of a schizophrenic patient. These ratings were compared with those of an experienced rater. Scores for most items met our criteria for learning with this level of training. These data demonstrate that high levels of agreement with experienced raters can be achieved on the NSA after brief periods of training.