Proxy measures of premortem cognitive aptitude in postmortem subjects with schizophrenia.

BACKGROUND: Postmortem human brain studies provide the molecular, cellular, and circuitry levels of resolution essential for the development of mechanistically-novel interventions for cognitive deficits in schizophrenia. However, the absence of measures of premortem cognitive aptitude in postmortem subjects has presented a major challenge to interpreting the relationship between the severity of neural alterations and cognitive deficits within the same subjects. METHODS: To begin addressing this challenge, proxy measures of cognitive aptitude were evaluated in postmortem subjects (N = 507) meeting criteria for schizophrenia, major depressive or bipolar disorder, and unaffected comparison subjects. Specifically, highest levels of educational and occupational attainment of the decedent and their parents were obtained during postmortem psychological autopsies. RESULTS: Consistent with prior findings in living subjects, subjects with schizophrenia had the lowest educational and occupational attainment relative to all other subject groups, and they also failed to show the generational improvement in attainment observed in all other subject groups. CONCLUSIONS: Educational and occupational attainment data obtained during postmortem psychological autopsies can be used as proxy measures of premortem cognitive function to interrogate the neural substrate of cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia.

The McGill Illness Narrative Interview - MINI: translation and cross-cultural adaptation into Portuguese. / McGill Entrevista Narrativa de Adoecimento - MINI: tradução e adaptação transcultural para o português.

This paper presents the process of translation and cultural adaptation into Portuguese of the McGill Illness Narrative Interview - MINI, an interview protocol that is used to research meanings and modes of narrating illness experiences, tested, in the Brazilian context, for psychiatric and cancer-related problems. Two translations and their respective back-translations were developed. In addition, semantic equivalence was evaluated, a synthesis version and a final version were prepared, and two pre-tests were administered to the target populations (people with auditory verbal hallucinations or breast cancer). A high degree of semantic equivalence was found between the original instrument and the translation/back-translation pairs, and also in the perspective of referential and general meanings. The semantic and operational equivalence of the proposed modifications was confirmed in the pre-tests. Therefore, the first adaptation of an interview protocol that elicits the production of narratives about illness experiences has been provided for the Brazilian context.

McGill Entrevista Narrativa de Adoecimento - MINI: tradução e adaptação transcultural para o português / The McGill Illness Narrative Interview - MINI: translation and cross-cultural adaptation into Portuguese

Resumo Este artigo apresenta o processo de tradução e adaptação cultural para o português da McGill Illness Narrative Interview – MINI, um modelo de entrevista para a pesquisa dos sentidos e dos modos de narrar a experiência do adoecimento, testada, no contexto brasileiro, para os problemas psiquiátricos e os relacionados ao câncer. Foram realizadas duas traduções e respectivas retraduções, avaliada a equivalência semântica, elaboradas versões síntese e final e dois pré-testes nas populações-alvo (pessoas com alucinações auditivas verbais ou câncer de mama). Foi observado um grau elevado de equivalência semântica entre o instrumento original e os pares de tradução-retradução e da perspectiva dos significados referencial e geral. A equivalência semântica e operacional das modificações propostas foram confirmadas nos pré-testes. Disponibilizou-se para o contexto brasileiro a primeira adaptação de um modelo de entrevista que possibilita a produção de narrativas sobre a experiência de adoecimento.

Abstract This paper presents the process of translation and cultural adaptation into Portuguese of the McGill Illness Narrative Interview – MINI, an interview protocol that is used to research meanings and modes of narrating illness experiences, tested, in the Brazilian context, for psychiatric and cancer-related problems. Two translations and their respective back-translations were developed. In addition, semantic equivalence was evaluated, a synthesis version and a final version were prepared, and two pre-tests were administered to the target populations (people with auditory verbal hallucinations or breast cancer). A high degree of semantic equivalence was found between the original instrument and the translation/back-translation pairs, and also in the perspective of referential and general meanings. The semantic and operational equivalence of the proposed modifications was confirmed in the pre-tests. Therefore, the first adaptation of an interview protocol that elicits the production of narratives about illness experiences has been provided for the Brazilian context.