Cross-cultural validation and inter-rater reliability of the Personal and Social Performance scale, Thai version.

OBJECTIVE: To cross-culturally validate and examine the inter-rater reliability of the Personal and Social Performance scale (PSP), Thai version (Thai-PSP). MATERIAL AND METHOD: The authors translated, back translated, and conducted a panel review on the source, translated, and back translated version of the PSP. After nine psychiatrists, who were new to the PSP or the Thai-PSP had received a three-hour session of training, they jointly watched four tape-recorded interviews and used the Thai-PSP for independent rating of the patients' functioning. RESULTS: The score ranges for items 1 (socially useful activities), 2 (personal/social relationships), and 3 (self-care) were between 0 (absent) and 4 (severe). The score range was between 0 (absent) and 3 (marked) for item 4 (disturbing/aggressive behavior). The total scores of four patients were rated between 2 (21-30 points) and 8 (81-90 points). The intraclass correlation coefficients (95% confidence intervals) of each item and total score were as follows: 0.63 (0.28-0.96) for item 1, 0.75 (0.42-0.98) for item 2, 0.69 (0.35-0.97) for item 3, 0.52 (0.17-0.94) for item 4, and 0.75 (0.41-0.98) for the total score. CONCLUSION: The results of the present study confirm the reliability of PSP and Thai-PSP as well as the ease of training.

Reliability and validity of the Thai version of the Health of the Nation Outcome Scales (hoNOS).

BACKGROUND: Measurement in psychiatric services is important for the development of a psychiatric tool for budget allocation. OBJECTIVE: To translate the Health of the Nation Outcome Scales (HoNOS) into Thai and to assess its psychometric properties. MATERIAL AND METHOD: The HoNOS was translated into Thai, by using the standard of "forward-backward" translation procedure. Two psychiatric nurses interviewed subjects together but independently rated their scores. The subjects were 23 acute inpatients and 23 sub-acute inpatients. The reliability and validity was assessed. RESULTS: The Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the Thai HoNOS was 0.68. It had a high correlation (r > 0.80) with the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) and the Clinical Global Impression (CGI). It suggested high concurrent validity. It had a satisfactory power (p < 0.05) in discriminating overall clinical outcomes between acute and sub-acute psychiatric inpatients. CONCLUSION: The Thai HoNOS fulfils the requirements of a psychiatric outcome scale for routine use in inpatient service.

An open-label study of quetiapine for delirium.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effects of quetiapine treatment in patients with delirium. MATERIAL AND METHOD: All patients with delirium were assessed. The diagnosis of delirium was confirmed by using the Confusion Assessment Method (CAM). Quetiapine at the dose between 25 and 100 mg/day was given for 7 days. The efficacy of quetiapine on delirium was evaluated by using the Delirium Rating Scale (DRS) and the Clinical Global Impression-Severity scale (CGI-S). The extrapyramidal side effects were assessed by using the Modified (9-item) Simpson-Angus Scale (MSAS). RESULTS: Twenty-two patients had delirium. Seventeen (10 males and 7 females) subjects with a mean age (SD) of 55.6 (18.6) years were included in the present study. Means (SDs) dose and duration (SD) of quetiapine treatment were 45.7 (28.7) mg/day and 6.5 (2.0) days, respectively. The DRS and CGI-S scores of days 2-7 were significantly lower than those of day 0 (p < 0. 001) for all comparisons). Only two subjects were shown to have mild tremor. CONCLUSION: Quetiapine within the range of 25-100 mg/day improves delirious condition within 24 hours of treatment. It is well-tolerated and has a very low propensity to induce extrapyramidal side effects. Further randomized, placebo-controlled trials are warranted.