Functional Disabilities Evaluated using World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 in Patients with Chronic Schizophrenia and Its Related Factors

Abstract

Objectives This study examined the functional disabilities of patients with chronic schizophrenia using WHO Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 (WHODAS 2.0) and its related factors.Methods The subjects consisted of 86 patients with schizophrenia with more than 10 years' duration of illness and 40 healthy volunteers. The functional disabilities and psychopathology were evaluated using the WHODAS 2.0 and 18-items Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS-18), respectively. This study analyzed the six sub-domains ('cognition', 'mobility', 'self-care', 'getting along', 'life activities', and 'participation') of WHODAS 2.0 and the four sub-scales ('positive symptoms', 'negative symptoms', 'affect', and 'resistance') of BPRS-18. ResultsPatients with chronic schizophrenia experienced severe functional disabilities across all six sub-domains of WHODAS 2.0 compared to healthy people. Hierarchical regression showed that 'negative symptoms' explained the disabilities in the WHODAS 2.0 sub-domains of 'cognition' (p<0.05), 'self-care' (p<0.05), 'getting along' (p<0.01), and 'life activities' (p<0.05). 'Positive symptoms' and 'affect' explained the disabilities in 'cognition' (p<0.01 and p<0.05, respectively) and 'participation' (p<0.05 and p<0.01, respectively). 'Resistance' was found to be a predictor of 'getting along' disabilities (p<0.01).Conclusion Negative symptoms mainly accounted for the multiple domains of functional disabilities in the WHODAS 2.0 but residual positive and affective symptoms could also deteriorate the cognition and social participation of patients with chronic schizophrenia.

Effectiveness of mobile applications for patients with severe mental illness: A meta‐analysis of randomized controlled trials

“…Interestingly, the meta‐analysis results indicated that the app's effectiveness was greater in reducing negative symptoms than positive symptoms of schizophrenia. The majority of schizophrenia patients developed chronic disease 5 to 10 years after the onset of disease (Park et al, 2019) and the participants in the included studies were likely to predominantly experience negative symptoms. The majority of studies used CBT, targeting behavioral motivation by delivering self‐monitoring and various behavioral activation strategies via the apps (Ben‐Zeev et al, 2018; Faurholt‐Jepsen et al, 2015).…”

Development of a Self-Reported Communication Competence Questionnaire for Patients with Schizophrenia

“…However, the tool has low reliability [14] as subjective analysis is possible. In addition, among tools frequently used in clinical practice, it is a general purpose for measuring communication in patients with schizophrenia when the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM -4) is applied using Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) measures [15]. However, the GAF score is limited in measuring communication because it evaluates various factors such as apathy, communication difficulties, and lack of self-management, which are overall indicators of vocal symptoms with a single score.…”

Differential Item Functioning in the WHODAS 2.0 Scale in Schizophrenia: An Application of the Rasch Trees Method Based on Demographic and Clinical Covariates

“…In addition, some studies have found differences between subgroups of people with schizophrenia in the WHODAS 2.0 scores by variables such as depression (Akinsulore et al, 2015;Dan et al, 2011;Guilera et al, 2012;McKibbin et al, 2004;Sjonnense et al, 2016;Strassnig et al, 2018), symptomatology (Akinsulore et al, 2015;R. Chen et al, 2019;Ertugrul & Ulug, 2004;Guilera et al, 2012;Park et al, 2019;Strassnig et al, 2018), occupational status (Adegbaju et al, 2013;R. Chen et al, 2019;Guilera et al, 2012;Olagunju et al, 2016;Strassnig et al, 2018;), smoking (Aguocha et al, 2018), gender (Adegbaju et al, 2013), years of education and residence (R. Chen et al, 2019), age (Adegbaju et al, 2013;R.…”