Learning proficiency in schizophrenic patients

บทคัดย่อ

Objective  This research aims to assess the learning proficiency in schizophrenic patients by using dynamic assessment with the  Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST-64).

Materials and Methods   The sample groups were schizophrenic patients who matched the inclusion criteria. They were assessed with the WCST-64 three times. The different scores between the third and the first time could be put into 3 groups, that is >15 were learners, £15 were non-learner, and those who achieved pre-test performance scores higher than 43 were achievers. Then the appropriate cutting point was calculated by using the receiver operating characteristic curve of the different score between the first and the second time. The verbal IQ and executive function were tested by using Kruskal-Wallis test, the correlation between WCST-64 scores and IQ scores were tested by Spearman’rho. The agreement to differentiate the groups tested with WCST-64 and process assessment (PA) was tested by Kappa agreement. This research was conducted from February to June, 2013.

Results  There were 89 schizophrenic inpatients were completely tested and could be divided into 3 groups, i.e., 14 patients were achievers, 31 learners, and 44 of non-learners. The appropriate cutting point that differentiate between the learners group and the non-learners group was 31 with the specificity and sensitivity at 80.6% and 68.2% respectively. The average scores of patients’ verbal IQ scores, and executive functions were different among groups. WCST-64 and PA had Kappa scores at 0.10.

Conclusion The WCST-64 could divide the learning proficiency of schizophrenic inpatients into 3 groups with different average scores but it did not congruent with PA. It might be assessed  by dynamic assessment only 2 times in order to classify learner and non learner groups with the cut off score at 31.