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Validation of the modified DUKE-UNC Functional Social Support Questionnaire in patients with schizophrenia

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Abstract

Purpose

The modified DUKE-UNC Functional Social Support Questionnaire (FSSQ) is considered a psychometric instrument to assess the social support in patients with schizophrenia. However, it has not been validated in this patient population. This issue is addressed here by examining the tool’s psychometric properties in a clinical sample of patients with schizophrenia.

Methods

Two hundred and forty-one patients from ten Adult Mental Health Centres (AMHC) meeting the following inclusion criteria were included: (1) International Classification of Diseases-10 (ICD-10) diagnosis of schizophrenia; (2) Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scores ≤50; (3) Illness duration of more than 2 years; and (4) Clinical stability. Patients were evaluated at baseline and at 1-year follow-up for clinical and psychosocial variables.

Results

The factor analysis revealed two factors that explained 54.15 % of the variance. Internal consistency was excellent for the total FSSQ (0.87 at baseline and 0.88 at 1 year follow-up) and ranged between adequate and excellent for FSSQ domains. Correlations between FSSQ scores and those of global functioning, psychiatric symptoms, disability and quality of life ranged between small and large. There were significant differences between groups of patients with schizophrenia in FSSQ scores. Patients with higher levels of somatic complaints and patients who were disabled scored significantly lower in some or all FSSQ scores. After 1-year follow-up, patients improved in overall functioning and there was a decrease in psychiatric symptoms. There were mainly small significant associations between changes in FSSQ scores from baseline to 1-year follow-up and changes in the rest of the test scores, and AMHC visits between baseline and 1-year follow-up.

Conclusions

The FSSQ scores are reliable and valid, which suggests that the instrument is appropriate for the assessment of perceived social support in patients with schizophrenia.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by grant PI050789 from the Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs of Spain, Carlos III Institute of Health, Health Research Fund, Madrid, Spain, and grant 2009SGR00822 from the Agency for Management of University and Research Grants, Government of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departament de Docència, Formació, Recerca i Publicacions, Centre d’Higiene Mental Les Corts, c/Numància 103-105 baixos, 08029, Barcelona, Spain

    Laia Mas-Expósito & Lluís Lalucat-Jo

  2. Department of Personality, Assessment and Psychological Treatment, Faculty of Psychology, University of Barcelona, Passeig de la Vall d’Hebron 171, 08035, Barcelona, Spain

    Laia Mas-Expósito & Juan Antonio Amador-Campos

  3. Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour (IR3C), Passeig de la Vall d’Hebron 171, 08035, Barcelona, Spain

    Juan Antonio Amador-Campos & Juana Gómez-Benito

  4. Department of Methodology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Barcelona, Passeig de la Vall d’Hebron 171, 08035, Barcelona, Spain

    Juana Gómez-Benito

Authors
  1. Laia Mas-Expósito
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  2. Juan Antonio Amador-Campos
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  3. Juana Gómez-Benito
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  4. Lluís Lalucat-Jo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lluís Lalucat-Jo.

Additional information

For the Research Group on Severe Mental Disorder. The working group members are listed in “Appendix”.

Appendix

Appendix

The Working Group on Severe Mental Disorder is composed of the following members from Adult Mental Health Care Centres in Barcelona: Mª Antonia Argany, Francesca Asensio, Marta Berruezo, Carlos Blecua, Ignasi Bros, Ana Isabel Cerrillo, Ana del Cuerpo, Amparo Escudero, Judit Farré, Clara Fort, Marisa García, Mª Carmen González, Eva Leno, Lluís Mauri, Isabel Mitjà, Mónica Montoro, Montserrat Nicolás, Rosa Ordoñez, Carmen Pinedo, Montserrat Prats, Mª Joaquina Redin, Mª Teresa Romero, Francesc Segarra, Juan Carlos Valdearcos, Immaculada Zafra, Matías Zamora and Antonio Zúñiga.

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Mas-Expósito, L., Amador-Campos, J.A., Gómez-Benito, J. et al. Validation of the modified DUKE-UNC Functional Social Support Questionnaire in patients with schizophrenia. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 48, 1675–1685 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-012-0633-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-012-0633-3

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