Perspective of patients with first-episode psychosis, their relatives, and mental health professionals on the design and usability of an app in clinical practice.

Aim: Therapeutic non-compliance remains the main difficulty for people with psychotic disorders, standing around 50% in people with schizophrenia. Lack of treatment adherence, either partial or total, to medication has economic and clinical consequences. E-health technologies may be a promising therapeutic tool to improve adherence, with the subsequent reduction in clinical and economic burden.

Identification of the most vulnerable populations in the psychosocial sphere: a cross-sectional study conducted in Catalonia during the strict lockdown imposed against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Design And Objectives: A cross-sectional study to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on the psychosocial sphere in both the general population and healthcare workers (HCWs).

Methods: The study was conducted in Catalonia (Spain) during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic when strict lockdown was in force. The study population included all people aged over 16 years who consented to participate in the study and completed the survey, in this case a 74-question questionnaire shared via social media using snowball sampling.

Three-factor model of premorbid adjustment in a sample with chronic schizophrenia and first-episode psychosis.

Background: The dimensionality of premorbid adjustment (PA) has been a debated issue, with attempts to determine whether PA is a unitary construct or composed of several independent domains characterized by a differential deterioration pattern and specific outcome correlates.

Aims: This study examines the factorial structure of PA, as well as, the course and correlates of its domains.

Method: Retrospective study of 84 adult patients experiencing first-episode psychosis (FEP) (n=33) and individuals with schizophrenia (SCH) (n=51).

Cognitive correlates of verbal memory and verbal fluency in schizophrenia, and differential effects of various clinical symptoms between male and female patients.

Background: Impairment of higher cognitive functions in patients with schizophrenia might stem from perturbation of more basic functions, such as processing speed. Various clinical symptoms might affect cognitive efficiency as well. Notably, previous research has revealed the role of affective symptoms on memory performance in this population, and suggested sex-specific effects.

Spanish validation of the Premorbid Adjustment Scale (PAS-S).

Background: The Premorbid Adjustment Scale (PAS) has been the most widely used scale to quantify premorbid status in schizophrenia, coming to be regarded as the gold standard of retrospective assessment instruments.

Aims: To examine the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the PAS (PAS-S).

Method: Retrospective study of 140 individuals experiencing a first episode of psychosis (n=77) and individuals who have schizophrenia (n=63), both adult and adolescent patients.

Gender differences in delusional disorder: Evidence from an outpatient sample.

Our objective was to study gender differences in delusional disorder (DD), by comparing potential risk factors, clinical correlates, illness course characteristics, and functionality. The sample was composed of 86 outpatients with DD (according to the SCID-I for DSM-IV criteria). The following assessment instruments were used service use and demographic questionnaires, Standardized Assessment of Personality (SAP), the Positive and Negative Symptom Scale (PANSS), Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Mini International Neuropsychiatry Interview (MINI), Sheehan Disability Inventory (SDI), and the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scale.

Depressive comorbidity in personality disorders.

Introduction: We aimed to investigate the nature of the associations between PD clusters and MDs, functionality and mental health services use.

Methods: This is a case register study of all cases with a diagnosis of PD detected clinically in a well-defined area in the province of Barcelona covered by 7 Community Mental Health Teams. DSM-IV diagnoses were established by fully trained psychiatrists.

An empirical study of psychosocial and clinical correlates of delusional disorder: the DELIREMP study.

Objective: We aim to describe psychosocial and clinical correlates of delusional disorder (DD) and its types. This approach is important because most knowledge on DD does not come from empirical data collected using a validated systematic research method.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in a sample of 86 patients fulfilling DSM-IV criteria for DD as established using the SCID-I.

Do needs, symptoms or disability of outpatients with schizophrenia influence family burden?

Background: Most needs of outpatients with schizophrenia are met by the family. This could cause high levels of family burden. The objective of this study is to assess the relationship between the patients' needs and other clinical and disability variables and the level of family burden.

Four symptom dimensions in outpatients with schizophrenia.

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the dimensional structure of the Positive and Negative Symptoms Scale (PANSS) to identify the psychopathological profiles of outpatients with schizophrenia.

Method: Two hundred and thirty-one persons with schizophrenia (DSM-IV criteria) were randomly selected from a register that included all patients under treatment in 5 mental health care centers in Spain. Patients were evaluated with a sociodemographic and clinical questionnaire, the PANSS, the Disability Assessment Scale short version, and the Global Assessment Functioning Scale.

Neurocognitive performance and negative symptoms: are they equal in explaining disability in schizophrenia outpatients?

Objective: The aim of this study is to assess if cognitive variables and symptom dimensions can predict disability in a sample of outpatients with schizophrenia.

Method: A cross-sectional sample of 113 individuals with a diagnosis of schizophrenia (DSM-IV criteria) was selected from a computerized register of five Community Mental Health Centers. Patients were assessed by two trained psychologists, with a neuropsychological battery comprising measures for verbal memory, attention, operative memory and abstraction and flexibility functions.