ABSTRACT
Background. Several psychometric instruments are available for the diagnostic interview of subjects at ultra high risk (UHR) of psychosis. Their diagnostic comparability is unknown. Methods. All referrals to the OASIS (London) or CAMEO (Cambridgeshire) UHR services from May 13 to Dec 14 were interviewed for a UHR state using both the CAARMS 12/2006 and the SIPS 5.0. Percent overall agreement, kappa, the McNemar-Bowker χ (2) test, equipercentile methods, and residual analyses were used to investigate diagnostic outcomes and symptoms severity or frequency. A conversion algorithm (CONVERT) was validated in an independent UHR sample from the Seoul Youth Clinic (Seoul). Results. There was overall substantial CAARMS-versus-SIPS agreement in the identification of UHR subjects (n = 212, percent overall agreement = 86%; kappa = 0.781, 95% CI from 0.684 to 0.878; McNemar-Bowker test = 0.069), with the exception of the brief limited intermittent psychotic symptoms (BLIPS) subgroup. Equipercentile-linking table linked symptoms severity and frequency across the CAARMS and SIPS. The conversion algorithm was validated in 93 UHR subjects, showing excellent diagnostic accuracy (CAARMS to SIPS: ROC area 0.929; SIPS to CAARMS: ROC area 0.903). Conclusions. This study provides initial comparability data between CAARMS and SIPS and will inform ongoing multicentre studies and clinical guidelines for the UHR psychometric diagnostic interview.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: This study examined the prevalence of students' reported experiences of bullying and victimization in primary and secondary schools and their association with levels of perceived stress and cannabis use. METHODS: We consecutively enrolled 407 students attending three secondary schools in Pavia (Italy). Bullying and victimization were measured using the retrospective bullying questionnaire (RQB). The 10-item perceived stress scale (PSS-10) was used to assess the degree to which situations in life were perceived as stressful. Data on demographic characteristics and cannabis use in the previous 6 months were also collected. RESULTS: There were 328 victims (80.6%) and 221 bullies (52.1%). The results of the stepwise regression analysis with bullying as the dependent variable were significant with either male sex (R2 = 0.030, p = 0.024) or PSS-10 scores (R2 0.056, p = 0.036) in the model. With victimization as the dependent variable, only the PSS-10 scores were retained in the model as an independent predictor variable (R2 = 0.048, p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The results from this study indicate that the level of perceived stress has an independent association with both bullying and victimization. Further studies are needed to clarify the psychobiological links between stress, cannabis use and bullying behaviours.
