A blinded validation of the Swedish version of the Clinical Assessment Interview for Negative Symptoms (CAINS)

Abstract

Purpose: The Clinical Assessment Interview for Negative Symptoms (CAINS) was developed in order to advance the assessment of negative symptoms. The aim of this study was to validate the Swedish version of the CAINS. Materials and methods: Thirty-four out-patients with a schizophrenia spectrum disorder were recruited. All patients were videotaped while interviewed with the CAINS and the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS). Another rater watched the video recordings in the reverse order, enabling a blinded design. The patients also filled in self-reported measures of depression, quality of life, and social and vocational functioning. We calculated inter-rater agreement and internal consistency for the CAINS. We also calculated validity measures by correlating the subscales Motivation and Pleasure (CAINS-MAP) and Expression (CAINS-EXP) to subscales of the BPRS. Results: The blinded inter-rater agreement for the CAINS total score was high (ICC ¼ 0.92) but slightly lower for the expression subscale (ICC ¼ 0.76). Cronbach's alpha was 0.84 for the total score. Convergent validity with the negative symptoms subscale of BPRS was different for the blinded and the unblinded data, with a CAINS-MAP correlation of 0.10 (p ¼ 0.580) and a CAINS-EXP correlation of 0.48 (p ¼ 0.004) in the blinded data. The unblinded data had a CAINS-MAP correlation of 0.38 (p ¼ 0.026) and a CAINS-EXP correlation of 0.87 (p < 0.001). Self-rated measures of anhedonia correlated to CAINS-MAP with a coefficient of 0.68 (p < 0.001), while the CAINS-EXP only had a correlation of 0.16 (p ¼ 0.366) to these measures. Conclusion:The Swedish version of the CAINS displays adequate psychometric properties in line with earlier validation studies.

No effects on heart rate variability in depression after treatment with dorsomedial prefrontal intermittent theta burst stimulation

“…Since the original trial aimed at treating negative symptoms with a transdiagnostic approach, patients were assessed at the baseline visit (the day before the first treatment day) by a trained physician with the Clinical Assessment Interview for Negative Symptoms (CAINS) ( 43 , 44 ) and the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale – extended (BPRS-E) ( 45 ). Participants also filled in self-reports: sociodemographic data, nicotine consumption, The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) ( 46 ), The Drug Use Disorders Identification Test (DUDIT) ( 47 ), Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale – Self-report ( 48 ), and self-assessed health with the EQ-VAS ( 49 ).…”