Abstract
BackgroundThe self-evaluation of negative symptoms scale (SNS) is a new easy-to-use self-administered questionnaire allowing clinicians to understand the clinical and genetic factors affecting the negative symptoms in patients with schizophrenia. There was a need to translate and validate this scale in Arabic so that Arab-speaking patients benefit from it. Therefore, the aim of our study was to validate the Arabic version of the SNS in a sample of Lebanese patients with schizophrenia.MethodsThe Arabic SNS was used to quantify the disability associated with negative symptoms in patients with schizophrenia (n = 206). Six weeks after completing the SNS, the participants were interviewed again to assess test-retest reproducibility. The validity was confirmed by factor analyses using the principal component analysis technique with a varimax rotation. The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) was also assessed.ResultsNone of the items of the SNS scale were removed; all items converged over a solution of five factors that had an eigenvalue > 1, explaining a total of 66.01% of the variance (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.879; test part). The mean total SNS score was 17.33 ± 8.43 for the “test”, and 16.35 ± 7.50 for the “retest”. The correlation coefficients between the SNS total score and the PANSS scale and subscales were as follows: total PANSS (r = 0.044; p = 0.530), positive PANSS score (r = − 0.106; p = 0.131), negative PANSS score (r = 0.204; p = 0.003), and general psychopathological PANSS score (r = 0.03; p = 0.530).ConclusionThis study is the first to validate the Arabic version of the SNS in patients with schizophrenia. Using this scale would help improve treatment by correctly assessing negative symptoms, thus optimizing treatment options.
Highlights
The self-evaluation of negative symptoms scale (SNS) is a new easy-to-use self-administered questionnaire allowing clinicians to understand the clinical and genetic factors affecting the negative symptoms in patients with schizophrenia
Studies have shown that individuals with schizophrenia exhibit a mosaic of symptoms encompassing positive psychotic symptoms, severe cognitive impairment, and, most importantly, negative symptoms that include several domains ranging from alogia, avolition, anhedonia, social withdrawal, and blunted affect, and can widely vary between patients; it is even considered as strong predictors of treatment outcome and response [4, 5]
It was deemed essential to validate the Arabic version of the Self-evaluation of negative symptoms scale (SNS) and compare its results with those of the negative symptoms subscale of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) in Lebanese patients with schizophrenia
Summary
The self-evaluation of negative symptoms scale (SNS) is a new easy-to-use self-administered questionnaire allowing clinicians to understand the clinical and genetic factors affecting the negative symptoms in patients with schizophrenia. When poorly assessed, negative symptoms could lead to worse outcomes of global disability, with lack of psychological adjustment and emotional relationship, low levels of achievement in everyday tasks, impaired community functioning, and much lower rates of remission over time [6]. Evaluating these symptoms in schizophrenia is challenging as it requires the use of standardized evaluation tools for a reliable assessment [7, 8]. The importance of correctly assessing and identifying negative symptoms and understanding correlates to help health professionals develop an adequate treatment strategy for each patient
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