title: Assessing movement quality in persons with severe mental illness - Reliability and validity of the Body Awareness Scale Movement Quality and Experience.
abstract: Motor disturbances and disturbed self-recognition are common features that affect mobility in persons with schizophrenia spectrum disorder and bipolar disorder. Physiotherapists in Scandinavia assess and treat movement difficulties in persons with severe mental illness. The Body Awareness Scale Movement Quality and Experience (BAS MQ-E) is a new and shortened version of the commonly used Body Awareness Scale-Health (BAS-H). The purpose of this study was to investigate the inter-rater reliability and the concurrent validity of BAS MQ-E in persons with severe mental illness. The concurrent validity was examined by investigating the relationships between neurological soft signs, alexithymia, fatigue, anxiety, and mastery. Sixty-two persons with severe mental illness participated in the study. The results showed a satisfactory inter-rater reliability (n = 53) and a concurrent validity (n = 62) with neurological soft signs, especially cognitive and perceptual based signs. There was also a concurrent validity linked to physical fatigue and aspects of alexithymia. The scores of BAS MQ-E were in general higher for persons with schizophrenia compared to persons with other diagnoses within the schizophrenia spectrum disorders and bipolar disorder. The clinical implications are presented in the discussion.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Health Sciences , Lund University , Lund , Sweden.
authors.forename: Lena
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hedlund
authors.affiliation: a Department of Health Sciences , Lund University , Lund , Sweden.
authors.forename: Amanda Lundvik
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Gyllensten
authors.affiliation: b The Country Hospital of Jönköping , Psychiatric Clinic , Jönköping , Sweden.
authors.forename: Tomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Waldegren
authors.affiliation: a Department of Health Sciences , Lund University , Lund , Sweden.
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hansson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001364:Awareness; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D001828:Body Image; D057189:Checklist; D003071:Cognition; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009043:Motor Activity; D000068079:Motor Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D018763:Muscle Fatigue; D015588:Observer Variation; D010808:Physical Examination; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012044:Regression Analysis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D012649:Self Concept; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Fatigue; motor disturbance; neurological soft sign; physiotherapy; schizophrenia