Design and validation of a brief scale for cognitive evaluation in people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia (BCog-S)

The Ethiopian Cognitive Assessment battery in Schizophrenia (ECAS): a validation study

Cognitive impairment is common in people with schizophrenia (PWS). To detect the presence and its consequences, cognitive measures with sound psychometric properties are needed. However, these are lacking especially in low-income countries. Hence, we developed the Ethiopian Cognitive Assessment battery in Schizophrenia (ECAS). In this study, we evaluated the psychometric properties of the ECAS in a cross-sectional study involving 350 PWS. Confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated a one-factor solution. ECAS score correlated significantly but weakly with a disability measure (r = -0.13, p = 0.02) and symptom dimensions of PANSS (r between -0.12 and -0.29, p < 0.05), except for positive symptoms (r = -0.10, p > 0.05). Years of education (β = 0.12, 95% CI (0.09, 0.14), p < 0.001), male sex (β = 0.22, 95% CI (0.05, 0.39)), age β = -0.02, 95% CI (-0.03, -0.01), and medication side effects (β = -0.03, 95% CI (-0.06, -0.01), p = 0.021) were significantly associated with the composite score of ECAS. The Item Response Theory analysis showed that the tool best functions among participants with moderate cognitive impairment (difficulty coefficient between -1.12 and 0.27). The Differential Item Functioning analyses showed that education had a positive contribution on Digit Symbol Substitution Test (MH OR = 2.64, 95% CI (1.34, 5.20)). The results showed that ECAS is valid in assessing cognition in PWS in low-resource settings.

Perspectives of Nursing Students towards Schizophrenia Stigma: A Qualitative Study Protocol

Aim: This study aims to explore fourth-year nursing students’ knowledge of schizophrenia and their attitudes, empathy, and intentional behaviours towards people with schizophrenia. Design: This will be a descriptive qualitative study using focus-group interviews. Methods: Fourth-year nursing students on clinical placement in a hospital in Hunan province will be invited for focus-group interviews. Snowball and purposive sampling will be used to recruit nursing students for this study. Five focus-group interviews, each including six participants, will be conducted to explore participants’ knowledge, attitudes, intentional behaviours, and empathy towards schizophrenia. The interview will be conducted through the online Tencent video conference platform and the interview data will be collected through the same platform. All interviews will be recorded and transcribed verbatim and analysed with the approach of the content analysis supported by NVivo 12. Simultaneous data collection and analysis will be performed, and the interviews will be continued until data saturation is met. The findings of this study will be helpful in developing effective interventions to decrease the stigma toward schizophrenia among nursing students and those who study healthcare disciplines.

Analysis of Brain Functions in Men with Prostate Cancer under Androgen Deprivation Therapy: A One-Year Longitudinal Study

The relationship between cognitive decline and androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) under luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) analogues is unclear, and there is a scarcity of longitudinal studies considering the interaction between cognition, depressive symptoms and sleep quality in men with prostate cancer (PCa) treated with ADT. This study aimed to determine if there were differences in the scores obtained in cognitive assessment, depressive symptoms, and sleep quality after one year of ADT and determine the interrelations between sleep, mood, and cognitive status. A prospective longitudinal observational study was designed, in which a cohort of men (mean age was 70.8 years) newly treated with androgen-deprivation therapy was assessed in the first six months of treatment and 12 months later. Analysis of cognitive function by the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores indicated a significant (p < 0.05) increase after one year of treatment and by the Brief Scale for Cognitive Evaluation (BCog) scores indicated no changes in the scores before and after one year of treatment. Analysis of depressive symptoms with the Geriatric Depression Scale and sleep quality with the Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS) scores showed significant (p < 0.05) changes after one year of treatment with ADT, with men describing more depressive symptoms and more sleep disturbances. No statistically significant differences were found in the cognitive performance between men with impaired sleep or depression results and those without them. Our study showed no clinical evidence of the relationship between ADT under luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) analogues and cognitive deterioration in 1-year follow-up, but there are impairments in the sleep quality in men with PCa undergoing ADT and an increase in depressive symptoms which has important implications for clinicians as they would impair quality of life and adherence to treatment.