SZ: Reliability & Validity of Diagnosis

Question 1

Co-morbidity

Answer 1

Refers to the extent that two or more conditions or diseases occur simultaneously in a patient, eg SZ and depression.

Question 2

Culture

Answer 2

The rules, customs, morals etc that bind a group of people together and define how they are likely to behave.

Question 3

Gender bias

Answer 3

Tendency to describe the behaviour of men and women in psychological theory and research in such a way that might not be seen to represent accurately the characteristics of either one of the genders.

Question 4

Reliability

Answer 4

Consistency of measurements.

Question 5

Symptom overlap

Answer 5

Symptoms of a disorder may not be unique to that disorder but may also be found in other disorders, making accurate diagnosis difficult.

Question 6

Validity

Answer 6

Whether an observed effect is a genuine one.

Question 7

What are the reliability issues for diagnosis and classifying SZ?

Answer 7

• Cultural differences

Question 8

What are the validity issues for diagnosing and classifying SZ?

Answer 8

• Gender bias in diagnosis
• Symptom overlap
• Co-morbidity

Question 9

Give an example of research that shows the impact of culture on the reliability of diagnosing SZ:

Answer 9

Copeland (1971)

• 134 US and 194 British psychiatrists given a description of a patient.
• 69% US diagnosed SZ, but only 2% of British did.

Question 10

Give an example of research that shows how gender bias affects the validity of SZ diagnosis:

Answer 10

Broverman (1970)

• Clinicians in the US equated mentally healthy adult behaviour with mentally healthy male behaviour.
• Therefore, women tend to be percieved as less mentally healthy than men.

Question 11

List the ways in which SZ diagnosis can be gender biased:

Answer 11

• Gender-based diagnostic criteria and research
• Clinicians basing judgments on stereotypical beliefs about gender

Question 12

Give an example of research that shows the symptom overlap for diagnosis of SZ:

Answer 12

Ellason and Ross (1995)

• Point out people with DID have more SZ symptoms than people diagnosed as SZ.

Read (2004)

• Most people diagnosed with SZ have sufficient symptoms of other disorders that they could also receive at least one other diagnosis.

Question 13

What are common co-mobidities for SZ?

Answer 13

Substance abuse, anxiety and symptoms of depression.

Question 14

Give an example of how co-morbidity effects the validity of SZ diagnosis:

Answer 14

Swets (2014)

• Meta-analysis found at least 12% of patients with SZ also filled criteria for OCD.
• 25% displayed significant symptoms.

Question 15

Write a PEEL paragraph discussing the research support for gender bias in diagnosis:

Answer 15

P - Research support for gender bias in diagnosis.

E - Loring and Powell (1988) randomly selected M and F psychiatrists to read cases about 2 patients and asked to make judgements using standard diagnostic criteria.

E - If patient described as M, 56% diagnosed SZ. If patient was F, 20% diagnosed SZ.

L - This bias not shown in F psychiatrists showing diagnosis is not only dependent on gender of patient but also gender of clinician.

Question 16

Write a PEEl paragraph evaluating the lack of inter-rater reliability in the diagnosis of SZ:

Answer 16

P - Lack of inter-rater reliability

E - Despite later revisions of the DSM which claimed to have increased the reliability, over 30 years later there is little evidence that it is used with high reliability by mental clinicians.

E - Whaley (2001) found inter-rater reliability correlations in the diagnosis of SZ as lows as 0.11.

L - Shows problems with inter-rater reliability.

Question 17

Write a PEEL paragraph about the cultural differences in the diagnosis of SZ:

Answer 17

P - Research established cultural and racial differences in the diagnosis of SZ.

E - However, the prognosis for members of ethnic minority groups may be more positive than majority groups’ - ethnic culture hypothesis: experience less distress with mental disorders due to protective characteristics and social structure of ethnic minority cultures.

E - Brekke and Barrio found supporting evidence - 184 people with SZ or SZ spectrum disorder from 2 minority groups (AA and Latino) and 1 majority (white Americans).

L - Non-minorities were consistently more symptomatic than that of the two minority groups.