ABSTRACT
Objectives: to estimate the prevalence of persistent auditory hallucinations [AHs] in a group of schizophrenic patients, to evaluate their dimensions and to identify their clinical associated factors
Method: This was a cross-sectional study carried-on 144 out-patients followed for schizophrenia, according DSM-IV-TR criteria. The assessment was consisted by the collect of epidemiological, clinical and therapeutic data and the use of the Hoffman's auditory hallucinations rating scale [AHRS], and the positive and negative symptoms scale [PANSS]
Results: The prevalence of persistent AHs [AHRS score >/= 5] was 40.3%. The mean total score of the AHRS was 10.7 +/- 7.8 for all patients and 19.4 +/- 7.7 for patients with persistent AHs. The AHs dimensions with higher sub-scores were the number, the influence and the reality of the voices. The PANSS items most related to the AHRS total score were P3 "hallucinatory activity", G1 "somatic concerns", G4 "tension" and the G5 "mannerisms and posture disorders". The clinical associated factors with persistent AHs after multivariate analysis were the absence of tobacco consumption, the hallucinatory onset of disorders, the notion of previous hospitalization and the continuous course
Conclusion: Our results support the multidimensionality of AHs and confirm the existence of inter individual differences in the characteristics of these hallucinations. Persistent AHs were associated with poor prognosis, requiring more effective therapeutic strategies
ABSTRACT
The schizotypal personality disorder is considered as a marker of schizophrenia proneness. The schizotypal personality questionnaire [SPQ] is an instrument to help to the diagnosis of schizotypal personality disorder extensively studied in the literature. To assess psychometric properties [reliability and factor structure] of the Arabic version of the SPQ in a sample of Tunisian university students. The sample included 490 students [145 males and 345 females; mean age: 20.4 +/- 1.4 years], from the faculty of medicine and the health sciences school of Monastir. Thirty-three students participated in the second assessment of the SPQ three months later. Cronbach's [alpha] internal consistency reliability coefficients were 0.92 for the total SPQ and from 0.62 to 0.75 for the SPQ subscales. The test-retest reliability was good with the intraclass correlation coefficients equal to 0.83 for the total SPQ and from 0.67 to 0.87 for the SPQ subscales [P<0.0001]. Factor analysis indicated that the three-factor model [positive or cognitive-perceptual, negative or interpersonal, and disorganized] and the four-factor model [cognitive-perceptual, paranoid, interpersonal, and disorganized] have provided a good fit to the data, accounting for 70.7% and 77.3% of the total variance of the scale, respectively. The results showed that the Arabic version of the SPQ had adequate psychometric properties and confirmed the multidimensional structure of the schizotypal personality in nonclinical populations