Factor Structure of the Scale for Assessment of Negative Symptoms in Ethiopia
Poster C3, Wednesday, October%2010, 11:30%20am%20-%201:00%20pm, Essex%20Ballroom
Kalyn Reddy1, Tithi D. Baul2, Christina P.C. Borba1,2, Girmay Medhin3, Abebaw Fekadu3, Miraf Mesfin3, Melkam Alemayehu3, Claire Oppenheim1, Solomon Teferra3, David C. Henderson1,2; 1Boston University School of Medicine, 2Boston Medical Center, 3Addis Ababa University
The Scale for Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS) is a rating scale that measures negative symptoms in patients with schizophrenia (Andreasen 1982). It organizes individual symptoms within five broader categories: affective flattening or blunting, alogia, avolition-apathy, anhedonia-asociality, and attention. Previous factor analyses have found the variables from these categories organize into three overarching factors. However, these studies have been performed primarily in Western, high-income countries. We performed an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) using baseline SANS results (n=320) from a clinical trial examining the efficacy of combined folate and B12 for patients with schizophrenia in Ethiopia. In our EFA we extracted a three factor solution, which was rotated using an oblique promax rotation. The three factors corresponded broadly with the subscales of (1) alogia, (2) affective flattening or blunting, and (3) avolition-apathy, anhedonia-asociality, and attention, with several elements of affective flattening or blunting loading into factor 1. Our results further support a three factor model of the SANS, though with differences from previous literature in how items are distributed. This difference in distribution may represent the influence of cultural variation between our studied population in Ethiopia and previously studied Western populations on schizophrenia symptomatology.
Topic Area: Psychosis NOS