Psychiatric Rating Scale Essay

BRIEF PSYCHIATRIC RATING SCALE (BPRS)73
We used 18=item Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS)73. BPRS is a widely used instrument for assessing the positive, negative, and affective symptoms of individuals who have psychotic disorders, especially schizophrenia. It has proven particularly valuable for documenting the efficacy of treatment in patients who have moderate to severe disease.
The BPRS consists of 18 symptom constructs and takes 20-30 minutes for the interview and scoring. The rater should enter a number ranging from 1 (not present) to 7 (extremely severe).
0 = Not assessed,
1 = Not present,
2 = Very mild,
3 = Mild,
4 = Moderate,
5 = Moderately severe,
6 = Severe,
7 = Extremely severe
Family Burden Interview Schedule (FBIS) (Pai & Kapur, 1981)74
This is a semi structured interview schedule comprising of 24 items grouped under 6 dimensions, i.e.
Financial burden,
Disruption of routine family activities,
Disruption of family leisure,
Disruption of family interaction,
Effect on physical health of others and
Effect on mental health of others.

severe burden, moderate burden and no burden) for each item and a standard question to assess the “Subjective” burden was also included in the schedule. This scale has been developed in Indian setup, keeping in mind the Socio economic and the cultural conditions in India. The validity and reliability of the scale have been found to be satisfactory. The interrelated consistency was more than 0.78 by the authors of the schedule, which clearly states that the scale is reliable. Validity of the scale was assessed by correlating objective burden rating with subjective burden, as reported by the relatives of the patient. The correlation found to be 0.72, which was considered significant. The scale though primarily devised for patients of psychotic disorder, can be used with neurotic patients, patients with alcohol or drug dependence, mental retardation and physical