Qualitative and Quantitative Evaluation of the Insight of the Schizophrenic Patients

In order to quantify the insight of Taiwanese schizophrenic patients and clarify the possible factors related to the insight, the authors made The Scale to Rate Insight of Schizophrenics that comprises nine items, including of awareness of psychotic symptoms, ability to describe psychotic pictures, awareness of relapse symptoms, appropriateness of managing the relapse, awareness of having schizophrenia, the appropriateness of explaining the etiology of illness, belief of the necessity of treatment, how long patient should receive treatment and awareness of the relationship between life change and having schizophrenia.

This scale was structured interview, and the analyses of results revealed excellent reliability and validity. Psychotic symptoms, including of positive symptoms, negative symptoms and general psychopathology, were the major factors influencing the insight of patients. Duration of illness, whether patient had work or not and the working condition of their caregiver were also influenced the insight.