Development of the Korean Version of the Social Functioning Scale in the Schizophrenics : A Study on the Reliability and Validity

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to develop the Korean version of the Social Functioning Scale (KSFS) in the patients with schizophrenia. METHODS : KSFS was administered to 90 schizophrenic patients and 80 their parents and 90 normal controls for examining the reliability and validity. RESULTS : Data analysis showed statistically significant reliabilities and validities of KSFS. The test-retest reliability, rater vs. self-report reliability, and internal consistency for total scores of KSFS were 0.93, 0.44 and 0.94 respectively. Evidence for discriminant validity of KSFS comes from the results that the mean scores of schizophrenic patients were significantly higher than those of normal controls. Construct validity was assessed by calculating the 7 inter-areas correlations of the KSFS, and all areas were statistically significant. Significant correlations between the total scores of KSFS and those of SOFAS lend support for the concurrent validity of this instrument. Factor analyses were performed and two factors were extracted accounting for 63.7% of the variance. Sensitivity was assessed indirectly via the distribution and range of scores on the SFS. The normal control group showed a distribution around a higher mean with a moderate positive skew. CONCLUSION : KSFS was found to be a valid, reliable, and sensitive instrument which can be used to evaluate the degree of social functioning in the patients with schizophrenia.

Evaluación del funcionamiento social en pacientes de un centro de salud / Social functioning evaluation of patients in a health center

En este artículo se presentan las principales características de la Escala de Funcionamiento Social (EFS) la descripción, el contenido y la metodología utilizada para diseñar la escala-que fue aplicada a una muestra de 320 pacientes de un centro de salud. El funcionamiento social se evalúa a través de una entrevista, en la cual el paciente reporta el grado de satisfacción en relación a su desempeño de roles en la áreas ocupacional, social, económica, sexual, económica, sexual y familiar. Se obtuvo un alto grado de confiabilidad y validez de la escala. Las correlaciones de todas las áreas fueron superiores de 0.80 (p=0.01). De la misma forma el análisis factorial con rotación varimax arrojó cinco factores para la validez de constructo; los reactivos de la misma área cargaron con un solo factor. Esto explicó, a su vez, el 52 por ciento de la varianza. Se recominda el uso de la escala, ya que se cuenta con un instrumento válido y confiable que puede se aplicado no solamente en México, sino también en otros países de habla hispana