Addressing the elephant in the screening room: an item response theory analysis of the Prodromal Questionnaire (PQ-16) for at-risk symptoms of psychosis.

Gauld, Christophe; Fourneret, Pierre; Alderson-Day, Ben; Palmer-Cooper, Emma; Dondé, Clément

Abstract

Within the context of patients at-risk of psychosis, where a variety of symptoms are present, identifying the most discriminative symptoms is essential for efficient detection and management. This cross-sectional online study analyzed individuals from the general population in order to better assess their risk of presenting symptoms belonging to the clinical high risk (CHR) for psychosis, called "CHR-related symptoms". The Prodromal Questionnaire-16 (PQ-16) served as a self-report screening tool. Item response theory (IRT) with a graded response model was used to assess the discrimination and difficulty of its criteria. The analysis included 936 participants (mean age: 21.5 years; 28.1% male, 71.9% female). "Déjà vu" stood out for its high discriminative power, while "Voices or whispers" and "Seen things" demonstrated strong precision relatively to the other CHR-related symptoms. Conversely, "Smell or taste" and "Changing face" were associated with the most severe cases relatively to the other CHR-related symptoms. This study identified the most indicative CHR-related symptoms to emphasize their significance in accurately assessing severity and guiding targeted preventative interventions.

Citation

Gauld, C., Fourneret, P., Alderson-Day, B., Palmer-Cooper, E., & Dondé, C. (online). Addressing the elephant in the screening room: an item response theory analysis of the Prodromal Questionnaire (PQ-16) for at-risk symptoms of psychosis. Brazilian Journal of Psychiatry, https://doi.org/10.47626/1516-4446-2024-3614

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 3, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Aug 19, 2024
• Deposit Date: Sep 11, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 11, 2024
• Journal: Brazilian Journal of Psychiatry
• Print ISSN: 1516-4446
• Electronic ISSN: 1809-452X
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.47626/1516-4446-2024-3614
• Keywords: discrimination, item response theory, Clinical high-risk symptoms, early intervention
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2820546