Schedule of Factors Influencing Access to Psychiatric Treatment in Persons with Schizophrenia: Validity and Pilot Testing

BACKGROUND: A substantial proportion of patients with severe mental disorders remain untreated in India. Qualitative research has highlighted the complex interplay of multiple factors that preclude schizophrenia patients in rural Indian settings from accessing treatment. AIMS: (a) To establish the face and content validities of an interview schedule titled “Schedule of Factors Influencing Access (SOFIAc) to Psychiatric Treatment in Persons with Schizophrenia”, which comprehensively assesses the factors that prevent schizophrenia patients from accessing psychiatric treatment. (b) To assess the feasibility of its administration. MATERIALS AND METHODS: SOFIAc contains 15 items. This schedule involves three phases of interviewing patients and family members. This was given to 12 experts. They used Likert scales (1=not at all satisfactory to 5=very much satisfactory) to rate each item of the schedule. In addition, the experts rated (the same way as above) the following five dimensions of the schedule (as a whole) separately: A (comprehensiveness of the factors), B (scoring system), C (interviewing method), D (general instructions given to the raters), E (overall schedule). Later on, 10 persons with schizophrenia were interviewed with SOFIAc to test the feasibility of administration. RESULTS: Thirteen items were rated as either satisfactory (score=4) or very much satisfactory (score=5) by all 12 experts; remaining two were rated as 4 or 5 by 11 experts. Regarding comprehensiveness of the factors, scoring methods and general instructions given to the interviewers, all provided scores >4; regarding the method of interviewing, 11 provided the score of >4; with regard to overall interview schedule, all experts provided scores >4. Pilot testing revealed that it took 60 min to administer SOFIAc. CONCLUSION: SOFIAc has satisfactory face and content validities. It is also feasible to administer SOFIAc.