Validity in Schizophrenia Flashcards
What is validity?
Accuracy of measure
What is validity in the diagnosis of schizophrenia?
That a research tool measures what it claims to measure (the DSM)
What is a way to asses the validity of diagnosis?
Criterion validity - do different assessment systems arrive at the same diagnosis for the same patient?
What is the study for criterion validity? the A03?
Cheniaux et al (2009)
A03 - It shows poor criterion validity as it shows the psychiatrists can’t come to the same agreement using the DSM and the ICD
What are the limitations of validity in the diagnosis of Schizophrenia?
Co-morbidity
Symptom overlap
Gender bias
Culture bias
What is co-morbidity?
Refers to the occurrence of two or more conditions together - if they are frequently diagnosed together could they actually be one?
What is the study for co-morbidity? Conclusion?
Buckley (2009) found that 50% of those diagnosed with schizophrenia also have a diagnosis of depression, 47% also are diagnosed with substance abuse, 29% with post-traumatic stress disorder and 23% with OCD
Conc - perhaps we can’t tell the difference between depression and schiz? meaning that it may not be a valid diagnosis of the mental illness
What are the problems for the validity of both diagnosis and classification bc of co-morbidity?
Diagnosis - maybe clinicians are bad at telling the differece?
Classification - they might be better classified as 1 condition
What is symptom overlap? Why is this a problem?
Where there is considerable overlap between schizophrenia symptoms and other disorders symptoms
Problem because it calls into question the validity of classifying two orders together as they could just be one and it questions the validity of the accuracy of diagnosis for these two conditions
Gender bias in the diagnosis of schizophrenia?
Men are more likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia - which may be due to genetic vulnerability but more likely to be misdiagnosis.
Female sufferers typically function better than males as they can maintain their work and family relationships - meaning women may be underdiagnosed
Culture bias in diagnosis of schizophrenia? A03?
Research shows that there is a significant variation between countries when diagnosing schizophrenia.
Afro-carribean origin are more likely than white people to be diagnosed - this may be because symptoms such as hearing voices may be more acceptable in some cultures than others
A03? This questions the validity of diagnosis as it bases on what we thing is normal rather than the norms of a culture
