EPA guidance on assessment of negative symptoms in schizophrenia.

Content Provider	Europe PMC
Author	Galderisi, S. Mucci, A. Dollfus, S. Nordentoft, M. Falkai, P. Kaiser, S. Giordano, G. M. Vandevelde, A. Nielsen, M. Ø. Glenthøj, L. B. Sabé, M. Pezzella, P. Bitter, I. Gaebel, W.
Copyright Year	2021
Abstract	BackgroundDuring the last decades, a renewed interest for negative symptoms (NS) was brought about by the increased awareness that they interfere severely with real-life functioning, particularly when they are primary and persistent.MethodsIn this guidance paper, we provide a systematic review of the evidence and elaborate several recommendations for the conceptualization and assessment of NS in clinical trials and practice.ResultsExpert consensus and systematic reviews have provided guidance for the optimal assessment of primary and persistent negative symptoms; second-generation rating scales, which provide a better assessment of the experiential domains, are available; however, NS are still poorly assessed both in research and clinical settings.This European Psychiatric Association (EPA) guidance recommends the use of persistent negative symptoms (PNS) construct in the context of clinical trials and highlights the need for further efforts to make the definition of PNS consistent across studies in order to exclude as much as possible secondary negative symptoms. We also encourage clinicians to use second-generation scales, at least to complement first-generation ones.The EPA guidance further recommends the evidence-based exclusion of several items included in first-generation scales from any NS summary or factor score to improve NS measurement in research and clinical settings. Self-rated instruments are suggested to further complement observer-rated scales in NS assessment.Several recommendations are provided for the identification of secondary negative symptoms in clinical settings.ConclusionsThe dissemination of this guidance paper may promote the development of national guidelines on negative symptom assessment and ultimately improve the care of people with schizophrenia.
Related Links	https://europepmc.org/backend/ptpmcrender.fcgi?accid=PMC8080207&blobtype=pdf
Page Count	23
ISSN	09249338
Journal	European Psychiatry [Eur Psychiatry]
Volume Number	64
DOI	10.1192/j.eurpsy.2021.11
PubMed Central reference number	PMC8080207
Issue Number	1
PubMed reference number	33597064
e-ISSN	17783585
Language	English
Publisher	Cambridge University Press
Publisher Date	2021-02-18
Publisher Place	Cambridge, UK
Access Restriction	Open
Rights License	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association 2021
Subject Keyword	Assessment instruments conceptualization persistent negative symptoms primary negative symptoms secondary negative symptoms
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Psychiatry and Mental Health