Overall and Gorham developed the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale to evaluate the psychiatric status of a patient. It can be administered rapidly and can be used to monitor change in the patient. The authors are from Kansas State University and the Veterans Administration.
Measures (16):
(1) somatic concern: degree of concern over present bodily health
(2) anxiety: worry, fear or over-concern for present or future
(3) emotional withdrawal: deficiency relating to the interviewer and the interview situation
(4) conceptual disorganization: degree to which the thought processes are confused, disconnected or disorganized
(5) guilt feelings: over-concern or remorse for past behavior
(6) tension: physical and motor manifestation of tension, nervousness and heightened activation level
(7) mannerisms and posturing: unusual and unnatural motor behavior
(8) grandiosity: exaggerated self-opinion, conviction of unusual ability or powers
(9) depressive mood: despondency in mood, sadness
(10) hostility: animosity, contempt, belligerence, disdain for others
(11) suspiciousness: belief (delusional or otherwise) that others have malicious intent towards the patient
(12) hallucinatory behavior: perceptions without a normal external stimulus
(13) motor retardation: reduction in energy level with slow movements, speech, body tone
(14) uncooperativeness: resistance, unfriendliness, resentment and lack of readiness to cooperate
(15) unusual thought content: unusual, odd, strange or bizarre thought content
(16) blunted affect: reduced emotional tone, apparent lack of normal feeling or involvement
Each measure was evaluated using a 7 point Likert scale.
|
Measure
|
Points
|
|
not present
|
1
|
|
very mild
|
2
|
|
mild
|
3
|
|
moderate
|
4
|
|
moderate to severe
|
5
|
|
severe
|
6
|
|
extremely severe
|
7
|
total score =
= SUM(points for all 16 measures)
Interpretation:
• minimum score: 16
• maximum score 112
• The higher the score the more severe the disorder.
• I would also summarize the number of measures at each level of the Likert scale.
Performance:
• The scale shows good inter-rater reliability (see Table 4, page 811).
