Skip to content
University of Maryland LibrariesDigital Repository at the University of Maryland
    • Login
    View Item 
    •   DRUM
    • Theses and Dissertations from UMD
    • UMD Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    •   DRUM
    • Theses and Dissertations from UMD
    • UMD Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    The Negative Symptom Rating Scale: Initial Evaluation of Reliability and Validity

    Thumbnail
    View/Open
    Forbes_umd_0117E_10619.pdf (516.9Kb)
    No. of downloads: 1530

    Date
    2009
    Author
    Forbes, Courtney Brynn
    Advisor
    Blanchard, Jack J
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Abstract
    Negative symptoms in schizophrenia are a major determinant of the social and occupational impairments that characterize the disorder, as well as a significant source of distress for caregivers, and predictors of poor long-term outcome. Despite the compelling evidence for the clinical relevance of negative symptoms, this domain of the illness remains inadequately addressed by current pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy. As identified at the NIMH-MATRICS Consensus Development Conference on Negative Symptoms, a significant barrier to progress in the treatment of this symptom domain is the current lack of an adequate measure for assessment of negative symptoms (Kirkpatrick et al., 2006). It was in response to this need that the NIMH-MATRICS Negative Symptom Workgroup developed a new measure, the Negative Symptom Rating Scale (NSRS). The current study provided the first evaluation of the psychometric properties of the newly developed NSRS, including the inter-rater agreement and internal consistency of the NSRS scales, and assessed convergent and discriminant validity. The results of this initial psychometric evaluation of the NSRS are generally quite encouraging, and provide information that has helped inform data-driven modifications to the measure for upcoming validation studies. With regards to reliability, the NSRS demonstrated adequate internal consistency for the scale as a whole, and for three of the five subscales. The results indicated that the Asociality and Avolition subscales warrant further revisions or modifications to improve internal consistency. Additionally, three of the five subscales were found to have good to excellent interrater reliability, with the Avolition and Alogia subscales falling in the fair range. Results generally demonstrated adequate convergent validity between the NSRS and other measures of negative symptoms, namely the SANS and the BPRS Anergia subscale. Additionally, results indicated general convergence between clinician-rated anhedonia using the NSRS and self-reported anhedonia as measured by the TEPS. Finally, the NSRS showed discrimination from ratings of psychotic and depressive symptoms. The results of the present study point to areas in which revisions are necessary, and has provided valuable information that is necessary for making revisions and modifications to the measure prior to larger scale evaluation.
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/1903/11313
    Collections
    • Psychology Theses and Dissertations
    • UMD Theses and Dissertations

    DRUM is brought to you by the University of Maryland Libraries
    University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-7011 (301)314-1328.
    Please send us your comments.
    Web Accessibility
     

     

    Browse

    All of DRUMCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjects

    My Account

    LoginRegister
    Pages
    About DRUMAbout Download Statistics

    DRUM is brought to you by the University of Maryland Libraries
    University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-7011 (301)314-1328.
    Please send us your comments.
    Web Accessibility