The MOS 36-Item Short Form Health Survey: reliability, validity, and preliminary findings in schizophrenic outpatients.
OBJECTIVE
The authors test the reliability and validity of the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form 36-Item Health Survey (SF-36) as a written, self-administered survey in outpatients with chronic schizophrenia.


METHODS
Thirty-six schizophrenic outpatients completed a written and oral form of the SF-36. A psychiatrist rated the patients using the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale to determine severity of psychopathology. Cognitive functioning and academic achievement were also assessed. Internal consistency, test-retest reliability, concurrent and discriminative validity of the oral and written versions were determined.


RESULTS
The SF-36 in both forms was shown to have good internal consistency, stability, and concurrent validity. The mental health SF-36 subscales had poor discriminant validity, compared with the physical functioning scale that demonstrated good discriminant validity.


CONCLUSIONS
The validity of using the written form of the SF-36 on a sample of patients with chronic mental illness was demonstrated. The SF-36 appears to be an appropriate outcome measure for changes in physical and role functioning in consumers of outpatient mental health programs.
Russo
J
J
University of Washington at Harborview Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Seattle 98104, USA.
Trujillo
C A
CA
Wingerson
D
D
Decker
K
K
Ries
R
R
Wetzler
H
H
Roy-Byrne
P
P
D000328:Adult; D000553:Ambulatory Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D010054:Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale; D002908:Chronic Disease; D015897:Comorbidity; D016002:Discriminant Analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000145:classification* / Q000628:therapy; D014861:Washington