Sensitivity and specificity of the Chinese version of the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire-Brief for identifying undergraduate students susceptible to psychosis.
BACKGROUND
Early interventions can improve treatment outcomes for individuals with major psychiatric disorders and with nonspecific symptoms but increasingly impaired cognitive perception, emotions, and behaviour. One way used to identify people susceptible to psychosis is through the schizotypal personality trait. Persons with schizotypal characteristics have been identified with the widely used Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire-Brief. However, no suitable instruments are available to screen individuals in the Taiwanese population for evidence of early psychotic symptoms.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to test the sensitivity and specificity of the Chinese version of the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire-Brief for identifying undergraduate students' susceptibility to psychosis.


METHODS
Two-stage, cross-sectional survey design.


METHODS
The self-administered scale was tested in a convenience sample of 618 undergraduate students at a medical university in Taiwan. Among these students, 54 completed the scale 2 weeks apart for test-retest reliability, and 80 were tested to identify their susceptibility to psychosis.


METHODS
In Stage I, participants with scores in the top 6.5% were classified as the high-score group (n=40). The control group (n=40) was randomly selected from the remaining participants with scores <15 and matched by gender. These 80 students were asked to participate in psychiatric interviews in Stage II. The instrument was tested for reliability using intraclass correlation coefficients and the Kuder-Richardson formula 20. The instrument was analysed for optimal sensitivity and specificity using odds-ratio analysis and receiver operating characteristic curves.


RESULTS
The 22-item Chinese version of the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire-Brief had a 2-week test-retest reliability of 0.82 and internal consistency of 0.76. The optimal cut-off score was 17, with odds ratios of 24.4 and an area under the receiver operating characteristic curves of 0.83. The instrument had a sensitivity of 80.0% and specificity of 85.9% in identifying undergraduate students' susceptibility to psychosis.


CONCLUSIONS
The Chinese version Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire-Brief is a reliable instrument, but should not be used as a screening tool until its psychometric properties have been evaluated in more detail. Other screening tools need to be used in future studies with the CSPQ-B to improve the accuracy of identifying susceptibility to psychosis among young adults.
Ma
Wei-Fen
WF
School of Nursing, China Medical University and Hospital, 91, Hsueh-Shih Road, Taichung 40402, Taiwan. lhdaisy@mail.cmu.edu.tw
Wu
Po-Lun
PL
Yang
Shu-Ju
SJ
Cheng
Kuang-Fu
KF
Chiu
Hsien-Tsai
HT
Lane
Hsien-Yuan
HY
D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004198:Disease Susceptibility / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010552:Personality Assessment; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D012557:Schizoid Personality Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013624:Taiwan; D055815:Young Adult