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INECO Frontal Screening: an Instrument to assess Executive Dysfunction in Schizophrenia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 April 2014

Tânia Silva ,
Luís Monteiro  and
Emanuela Lopes
Tânia Silva*
Affiliation:
Instituto Superior de Ciências da Saúde - Norte (Portugal)
Luís Monteiro
Affiliation:
Instituto Superior de Ciências da Saúde - Norte (Portugal)
Emanuela Lopes
Affiliation:
Centro Hospitalar do Alto Ave, E.P.E., (Portugal)
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Tânia S. Silva. Instituto Superior de Ciências da Saúde - Norte. Rua Central de Gandra, 1317. 4585–116. Gandra (Portugal). Phone: +351–224157100/+351–224157102. E-mail: tanya_sylva@live.com.pt
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Abstract

Although several brief sensitive screening tools are available to detect executive dysfunction, few have been developed to quickly assess executive functioning. The INECO Frontal Screening (IFS) is a brief tool which has proved be useful for the assessment of the executive functions in patients with dementia. The aim of this study was to explore whether the IFS is as sensitive and specific as the BADS, a battery designed to assess the dysexecutive syndrome, in schizophrenia. Our sample comprised a group of 34 schizophrenic patients (Mean age = 39.59, DP = 10.697) and 31 healthy controls (Mean age = 35.52, DP = 10.211). To all groups were administered the BADS, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and IFS. The results suggest that schizophrenic patients performed significantly worse than the control group in all tests (p < .05). The IFS total score was 13.29 for the experimental group and 26.21 for the control group (p < .001). Considering a cut-off of 14 points, the IFS sensitivity was 100% and specificity 56% in detection of executive dysfunction in schizophrenia, compared with the BADS, that if we consider a cut-off of 11 points, was a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 50%. Thus, IFS is a brief, sensitive and specific tool for the detection of executive dysfunction in schizophrenia.

Keywords

schizophrenianeuropsychologyexecutive dysfunctionINECO frontal screening
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 17 , 2014 , E19
Copyright
Copyright © Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid 2014 

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