The following is a summary of “Practical and Social Functioning (PSF) scale: development and measurement properties of an instrument for assessing activity and social participation among people with serious mental illness,” published in the October 2024 issue of Psychiatry by Clausen et al.
Participation in society and the ability to perform daily activities are essential for individuals with serious mental illness, highlighting the significance of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) framework in mental health care.
Researchers conducted a prospective study to evaluate the Practical and Social Functioning (PSF) scale as a tool for assessing PSF in individuals with serious mental illness.
The PSF was developed and revised using data from various Norwegian studies, incorporating information from 562 patients with serious mental illness across different clinical settings. The validation process involved categorizing items by 25 professionals, and the development occurred in three stages with factor analyses performed. They assessed the quality of the PSF based on the COSMIN standards for systematic reviews of patient-reported outcome measures.
The results showed that the final version of the PSF comprises seven subscales, each with 4 items, totaling 28 items. These subscales load onto 2 factors reflecting the main dimensions of functioning: activity and participation. Content validity included three domains: relevance, comprehensiveness, and comprehensibility, with adequate relevance and comprehensibility, while comprehensiveness was doubtful. Structural validity was adequate, internal consistency was very good, and construct validity was adequate when compared to the Global Assessment of Functioning scale. Responsiveness was doubtful over an 18-month observation period, with nearly 60% of items showing a ceiling effect and no items exhibiting a floor effect.
The study concluded that the Norwegian version of the PSF, consisting of 7 subscales and 28 items, is an easy-to-administer tool sensitive to variations in functioning related to activity and participation among individuals with serious mental illness.
Source: bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12888-024-06135-x
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