No abstract

Schizotypy refers to traits or symptoms similar to schizophrenia, but in a diminished form, and schizotypy is thought to reflect a liability for the future development of schizophrenia. The Multidimensional Schizotypy Scale (MSS) is a new measure of schizotypy that improves on existing measures. The MSS contains full and brief subscales for positive, negative, and disorganized schizotypy. Although MSS scores have been validated in a variety of populations, the scales have not been thoroughly examined for differential item functioning in East Asian, Southeast Asian, Hispanic, Multiracial, and White participants. The current study included 567 East Asian, 351 Southeast Asian, 360 Hispanic, 230 Multiracial, and 345 White undergraduate participants from the United States. Overall, few of the items in the full or brief versions of the scales displayed differential item functioning across groups. The full and brief versions of the scales also displayed similar and not-significantly different validity coefficients with the Detachment and Psychoticism scales of the Personality Inventory for DSM-5. These findings suggest that the MSS measures the same constructs across ethnic groups, and the scale scores represent the same latent level of schizotypy among groups. Future research may use the MSS in these diverse groups without concern that the psychometric properties differ significantly among groups.

No abstract

Aim: Duration of untreated psychosis, or the time between onset of psychosis symptoms and accurate diagnosis and treatment, is a significant predictor of both initial treatment response and long-term outcomes. As such, efforts to improve rapid identification are key. Because early signs of psychosis commonly emerge in adolescence, schools have the potential to play an important role in the identification of psychosis-spectrum disorders.Methods: To illustrate the potential role of schools in this effort, the current paper describes implementation of a psychosis screening tool as part of a larger study focused on reducing the duration of untreated psychosis in Sacramento, CA.

Background The rising number of nursing home (NH) residents and their increasingly complex treatment needs pose a challenge to the German health care system. In Germany, there is no specialized geriatric medical care for NH residents. Nursing staff and general practitioners (GPs) in particular have to compensate for the additional demand, which is compounded by organizational and structural hurdles. As a result, avoidable emergency calls and hospital admissions occur. In the SaarPHIR project (Saarländische PflegeHeimversorgung Integriert Regelhaft), a complex intervention focusing on a medical care concept was developed in a participatory practice-based approach involving NH representatives and GPs. The complex intervention addresses the collaboration between nurses and GPs and aims to help restructure and optimize the existing daily care routine. It is expected to improve the medical care of geriatric patients in NHs and reduce stressful, costly hospital admissions. The intervention was pilot-tested during the first 12 months of the project. In the present study, its effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, and safety will be evaluated. Methods The study is a cluster-randomized controlled trial, comparing an intervention group with a control group. The intervention includes a concept of interprofessional collaboration, in which GPs group into regional cooperating teams. Teams are encouraged to cooperate more closely with NH staff and to provide on-call schedules, pre-weekend visits, joint team meetings, joint documentation, and improved medication safety. At least 32 NHs in Saarland, Germany (with at least 50 residents each) will be included and monitored for 12 months. The primary endpoint is hospitalization. Secondary endpoints are quality of life, quality of care, and medication safety. The control group receives treatment as usual. Process evaluation and health economic evaluation accompany the study. The data set contains claims data from German statutory health insurance companies as well as primary data. Analysis will be conducted using a generalized linear mixed model. Conclusion A reduction in hospital admissions of NH residents and relevant changes in secondary endpoints are expected. In turn, these will have a positive impact on the economic assessment. Trial registration German Clinical Trials Register: DRKS00017129. Registered on 23 April 2019. https://www.drks.de/drks_web/setLocale_EN.do.