Functioning in schizophrenia from the perspective of psychologists: A worldwide study

PLoS One. 2019 Jun 6;14(6):e0217936. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0217936. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

Schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder associated with impairment in functioning. A multidisciplinary approach is essential to help individuals with this health condition, and psychological interventions are considered a priority. The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) offers a theoretical framework for assessing functioning and disability. The ICF Core Sets for schizophrenia are a list of ICF categories describing the most common problems in functioning of persons affected by this health condition. This study aimed to explore the content validity of these ICF Core Sets and to identify the most common problems in people with schizophrenia from the perspective of psychologists. Psychologists with experience of schizophrenia treatment were recruited for a three-round Delphi study in order to gather their views regarding the problems commonly presented by these patients. A total of 175 psychologists from 46 countries covering the six WHO regions answered the first-round questionnaire, and 137 completed all three rounds. The 7,526 concepts extracted from first-round responses were linked to 412 ICF categories and 53 personal factors. Consensus (≥75% agreement) was reached for 76 ICF categories and 28 personal factors. Seventy-three of the 97 ICF categories that form the Comprehensive ICF Core Set for schizophrenia achieved consensus, and only three categories that yielded consensus do not feature in this Core Set. These results support the content validity of these ICF Core Sets from the perspective of psychologists. This provides further evidence of the suitability of the ICF framework for describing functioning and disability in persons with schizophrenia.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Delphi Technique
  • Disability Evaluation
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Schizophrenia / physiopathology*
  • Schizophrenic Psychology*

Grants and funding

This work was supported by Spain’s Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness [grant PSI2015–67984-R], and by the Agency for the Management of University and Research Grants of the Government of Catalonia [grant 2017SGR1681]. J. Gómez-Benito was the author who received the funding. The grants financed the preparation of the materials in the five languages in which it was applied, the Qualtrics platform through which the data were collected, and the linguistic revision of the manuscript. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript.