The relationship between the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) with other scales in schizophrenia has rarely been investigated. A systematic literature search was conducted to identify articles that reported the GAF score together with scores in the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), Clinical Global Impression (CGI) or Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), using MEDLINE, EMBASE...

BACKGROUND Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) is well known internationally and widely used for scoring the severity of illness in psychiatry. Problems with GAF show a need for its further development (for example validity and reliability problems). The aim of the present study was to identify gaps in current knowledge about properties of GAF that are of interest for further development. Pr...

BACKGROUND Although the duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) plays an important role in the short-term prognosis of patients with schizophrenia, their long-term prognosis generally is not determined by DUP alone. It is important to explore how other clinical factors in the early stage are related to DUP and consequent disease courses. METHODS A total of 664 patients with untreated psychosis ...

BACKGROUND Few studies have examined the trajectories of symptom severity in first episode psychosis (FEP) and their impact on functioning. This study aimed to identify discrete trajectories of positive, negative and general psychopathological symptoms and functioning, determine predictors of the identified symptom trajectories and subsequently investigate the relationship between symptom and f...

Background and Objectives: To examine the influence of gender on social functioning in patients with schizophrenia Methods: A sample of 318 schizophrenic (216 men and 102 women) (DSM-IV criteria) outpatients from four Spanish centres were administered the following instruments: Positive and Negative Symptom Scale (PANSS), Disability Assessment Scale (DAS-sv), and Global Assessment of Functionin...

OBJECTIVE The Sheehan Disability Scale (SDS) assesses disability in four domains of home management, work responsibilities, close relationships and social life. The main objective of this study was to develop the Persian version of the SDS. METHOD Two steps of field work followed the Persian translation and cultural adaptation of the tool: First, the internal consistency and convergent validi...

BACKGROUND Outcomes following admission to residential alternatives to standard in-patient mental health services are underresearched. AIMS To explore short-term outcomes and costs of admission to alternative and standard services. METHOD Health of the Nation Outcome Scales (HoNOS), Threshold Assessment Grid (TAG), Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) and admission cost data were collecte...

BACKGROUND Awareness of illness (insight) has been found to have contradictory effects for different functional outcomes after the early course of psychosis. Whereas it is related to psychotic symptom reduction and medication adherence, it is also associated with increased depressive symptoms. In this line, the specific effects of insight on the evolution of functioning over time have not been ...

Although response to treatment for the first episode of schizophrenia is generally favourable, nonadherence with the treatment is the first cause of relapse and rehospitalisation within the next few years. Long-acting injectable antipsychotics (LAIAs) combine the advantages of the newer antipsychotics and the long-acting formulation. The evaluation concerns 25 schizophrenic patients hospitalise...

Previous research has investigated the characteristics of competent and incompetent defendants and restorable and nonrestorable defendants. However, less is known about the influence of current treatment variables and other systemic factors on restorability. In the present study, we sought to examine the impact of demographic, criminogenic, historical clinical, and current treatment variables o...