Psychometric Properties and Diagnostic Associations of the Short-Form Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences in a Population-Based Sample of 29 021 Adult Men

Viktoria Birkenæs; Nora Refsum Bakken; Evgeniia Frei; Piotr Jaholkowski; Olav B Smeland; Markos Tesfaye; Ingrid Agartz; Ezra Susser; Michaeline Bresnahan; Espen Røysamb; Kjetil Nordbø Jørgensen; Ragnar Nesvåg; Alexandra Havdahl; Ole A Andreassen; Ida Elken Sønderby

doi:10.1093/schbul/sbad074

Psychometric Properties and Diagnostic Associations of the Short-Form Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences in a Population-Based Sample of 29 021 Adult Men

Schizophr Bull. 2023 Sep 7;49(5):1229-1238. doi: 10.1093/schbul/sbad074.

Authors

Viktoria Birkenæs¹, Nora Refsum Bakken¹, Evgeniia Frei¹, Piotr Jaholkowski¹, Olav B Smeland¹, Markos Tesfaye¹, Ingrid Agartz^{1

2

3}, Ezra Susser^{4

5}, Michaeline Bresnahan^{4

5}, Espen Røysamb⁶, Kjetil Nordbø Jørgensen¹, Ragnar Nesvåg⁷, Alexandra Havdahl^{8

9

10}, Ole A Andreassen^{1

2}, Ida Elken Sønderby^{1

2

11}

Affiliations

¹ NORMENT, KG Jebsen Centre for Psychosis Research, Department of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital, and Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
² KG Jebsen Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
³ Department of Psychiatric Research, Diakohjemmet Hospital, Oslo, Norway.
⁴ Mailman School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology and Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
⁵ New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA.
⁶ Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Psychology, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.
⁷ Division of Mental and Physical Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway.
⁸ Center for Genetic Epidemiology and Mental Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway.
⁹ Nic Waals Institute, Lovisenberg Diaconal Hospital, Oslo, Norway.
¹⁰ PROMENTA Research Center, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
¹¹ Department of Medical Genetics, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.

Abstract

Background and hypothesis: Around 5%-7% of the adult population are estimated to have lifetime psychotic experiences (PEs), which are associated with psychosis risk. PEs assessed with Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences (CAPE) are associated with psychosis but also non-psychotic disorders, which could be partly explained by CAPE indirectly capturing emotional symptoms. We investigated the psychometric properties of a shorter version, CAPE-9, and whether CAPE-9 scores are associated with lifetime psychotic or non-psychotic mental disorders after controlling for current anxiety and depressive symptoms.

Design: CAPE-9 questionnaire data were obtained from 29 021 men (42.4 ± 5.6 yrs.) from the Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child Cohort Study. We investigated CAPE-9 reliability and factor structure. Logistic regression was used to test effects of current anxiety and depressive symptoms (SCL-12) on associations between CAPE-9 scores and psychiatric diagnoses.

Results: CAPE-9 fit a previously reported 3-factor structure and showed good reliability. Twenty-six percent reported at least one lifetime PE. CAPE-9 scores were significantly associated with most psychiatric disorders (schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder, substance abuse, anxiety, trauma-related disorders, and ADHD). After controlling for concurrent emotional symptoms, only associations with schizophrenia (OR = 1.29; 95% CI = 1.18-1.38) and trauma-related disorders (OR = 1.09; CI = 1.02-1.15) remained significant.

Conclusions: CAPE-9 showed good psychometric properties in this large population-based adult male sample, and PEs were more clearly associated with psychotic disorders after controlling for current emotional symptoms. These results support the use of the short CAPE-9 as a cost-effective tool for informing public health initiatives and advancing our understanding of the dimensionality of psychosis.

Keywords: mental illness; psychometrics; psychotic experiences; public health.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Child
Cohort Studies
Humans
Male
Psychometrics
Psychotic Disorders* / psychology
Reproducibility of Results
Schizophrenia*