The Assessment of the Auditory Hallucinations and Delusions: The Reliability and the Validity of Turkish Version of the Psychotic Symptom Rating Scales (PSYRATS)

Objective: The aim of this study is to examine the reliability and validity of Turkish version of PSYRATS Auditory Hallucinations Scales (AHS) and Delusion Scales (DS). Method: 85 schizophrenic outpatients or inpatients aged between 18 and 65 years were the subjects of this study. The patients diagnosed by using the DSM-IV-TR and who have psychosis with alcohol or drug dependence, organic, mental and physical deficit were not included to the study. PSYRATS scales were translated and corrected by the authors. PSYRATS were applied for two times per week to 57 patients to determine test-retest reliability. 85 patients were applied PANSS and 71 of them were applied SAPS to determine the concurrent validity. Results: Cronbach Alpha coefficient was calculated as .79 for AHS and .80 for DS. For the AHS each item correlated between .59 and .98; for the DS each correlated between .66 and .93. For the test-retest reliability, item correlation coefficient of AHS is determined between .68 and .89, DS is .61 and .76 (p<0.01). Supporting the concurrent validity; a significant correlation was found between PANSS and SAPS (p<0.01). Three factor groups for AHS and also DH were revealed and examined more than 90 % of the variance. The results were supported by the original study findings. Conclusion: PSYRATS Auditory Hallucination and Delusion Scales were found to be reliable and valid measures to assess the dimensions of psychotic symptoms in Turkish schizophrenia patients.