Objective: Assessment of psychiatric treatment has been a central issue in psychiatric research. Most assessment tools are based on the patient's account and mainly focus on clinical agendas. Assessment tools, which gather the perspective of attached daily needs are limited. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the inter-rater reliability and internal consistency of the Marmara Family Interview for the Assessment of Psychiatric Treatment (MFIPT) in a clinical sample.
Method: The study also aimed to explore a possible association between the investigated assessment tool and the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale. Thirty patients were followed over a period of 6 months.
Results: The inter-rater reliability for the interview subscales were self care/hygiene: kappa= 0.77; social participation: kappa= 0.84; boundaries in daily life: kappa= 0.76; academic/work activities: r= 0.81, clinical condition/symptom severity: kappa= 0.72; attitude towards treatment: kappa=0.82; participation in family crisis/emotional support: kappa= 0.77; participation in daily routines/household activities: kappa= 0.63; use of psychiatric services: kappa= 0.62. Cronbach's alpha was found to be 0.90 for the overall internal consistency of the assessment tool. The strongest correlation between the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale and Marmara Family Interview for the Assessment of Psychiatric Treatment was the depression subscale and the participation in family crisis/emotional support item (r= 0.151; P > 0.05).
Conclusion: Marmara Family Interview for the Assessment of Psychiatric Treatment is a reliable instrument for the assessment of daily results of the treatment and daily functioning by the caregivers. Although, it has some limitations in assessing the clinical course.