Battery of scales for comprehensive assessment of social cognition, neurocognition and motivation in patients with schizophrenia

Abstract

Introduction

There has been a special interest in roles of neurocognition, social cognition and motivation impairments in patients with schizophrenia and possible approaches to remediating these deficits. Clinical practice lacks a comprehensive tool to measure those deficits.

Objective

To build a comprehensive assessment battery to measure neurocognitive, social cognitive and motivational deficits in order to form targets for remediation programs and assess their efficiency.

Aims

Translation and adaptation for Russian speaking subjects (if needed) of identified assessments upon authors’ agreement.

Methods

By consensus decision of 5 professionals in the field of clinical psychiatry, psychology and neuroscience a number of assessments were selected with the following criteria: 1. Relevance to domain assessed, 2. Appropriateness for Russian social context, 3. Reference rates in scientific papers, 4. Time consumed by each assessment.

Results

Six measures reflecting main domains (neurocognition, Theory of Mind, attributional style, social perception, emotion processing, motivation) were selected: 1. BACS (Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia) (R.S. Keefe et al., 2008), 2. Hinting Task (R. Corcoran 1995), 3. AIHQ (Ambiguous Intentions Hostility Questionnaire) (D.R. Combs et al., 2007), 4. RAD–15 (Relationships Across Domains) (M. Sergi et al., 2004), 5. Ekman–60 (P. Ekman et al., 1976), 6. AES (Apathy Evaluation Scale) (R.S. Marin et al., 1991).

Conclusions

The battery built encompasses all targeted domains of neurocognition, social cognition and motivation. Time consumed by the battery estimates 130 ± 15 minutes, which is appropriate for clinical practice in a rehabilitation centre. Future research will focus on patients profiling and shaping of rehabilitation programs accordingly.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.