Adapting, updating and translating the Social Functioning Scale to assess social, recreational and independent functioning among youth with psychosis in diverse sociocultural contexts.

Aim: To compare social, recreational and independent functioning among persons with psychosis across two geo-cultural contexts, we adapted the well-established Social Functioning Scale (SFS) and translated it into French and Tamil. We present the development and psychometric testing of this adaptation, the SFS-Early Intervention.

Methods: Sixteen items were added to reflect contemporary youth activities (e.

Fit for purpose: Conception and psychometric evaluation of developmentally appropriate measures to assess functional recovery in first-episode psychosis across geo-cultural contexts.

Objective: Given the paucity of functional recovery measures for young people with psychosis, we developed and conducted psychometric testing of the Functional Outcomes Interview (FOI) and the Roles and Aspirations Among Youth scale (RAY; a much-needed patient-reported outcome measure).

Method: Both measures were developed in English, Tamil, and French through discussions with professionals, participants, and families at early psychosis programs in Canada and India. The FOI assesses the number and tenure of functional roles and allows the nuanced assessment of each role in terms of performance, need for support, and quality of social contacts.

An examination of patient-identified goals for treatment in a first-episode programme in Chennai, India.

Aim: Our objective was to describe the goals identified by patients upon entering a specialized programme for treatment of first-episode psychosis (FEP) in Chennai, India.

Methods: 68 patients with FEP completed the Goal Attainment section of the Wisconsin Quality of Life-Client Questionnaire upon entry into treatment. Patients were asked to identify a maximum of three treatment goals and rate each identified goal on its importance and the extent of its achievement.

Preliminary findings from a study of first-episode psychosis in Montreal, Canada and Chennai, India: comparison of outcomes.

Background: This article reports preliminary findings from a multi-year investigation of onset and course of previously untreated first-episode psychosis in two similarly structured treatment programs in Canada and India. Specifically, the aim of this study was to examine whether one year clinical and functional outcomes of first-episode psychosis varied between these two programs.

Method: Patients with first-episode non-affective psychosis receiving similar treatment in Chennai, India (N=61) and in Montreal, Canada (N=88) were evaluated for demographic variables, duration of untreated psychosis, and baseline diagnosis, and for positive, negative, and general psychopathology symptoms and overall functioning at baseline and one year.

Strong evidence for a novel schizophrenia risk locus on chromosome 1p31.1 in homogeneous pedigrees from Tamil Nadu, India.

Objective: The study of ethnically homogeneous populations may help to identify schizophrenia risk loci. The authors conducted a genomewide linkage scan for schizophrenia in an Indian population.

Method: Participants were 441 individuals (262 affected probands and siblings) who were recruited primarily from one ethnically homogeneous group, the Tamil Brahmin caste, although individuals from other geographically proximal castes also participated.