The Reliability and Validity of the Brief Neuropsychological Cognitive Examination (BNCE) on Chronic Schizophrenia

• Main Authors: Chin Lan Ho, 何金蘭
• Other Authors: Y. Y. Yang
• Format: Others
• Published: 2010
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/00097173556571601555

碩士 === 長庚大學 === 職能治療學系 === 98 === Research has documented that people who suffer from schizophrenia has cognitive impairments. Neuropsychological studies have applied standard test batteries which are usually time consuming; while other brief cognitive tests have shortcomings such as being unable to detect mild impairments. The Brief Neuropsychological Cognitive Examination (BNCE) is a short, standardized assessment of the major cognitive functions and is sensitive in determining the presence of cognitive impairment. In addition, the use of BNCE has not been previously validated for people with schizophrenia in Taiwan. The objective of this study is: 1) to test the reliability (inter-rater reliability, test-retest reliability and internal consistency) and validity (construct validity and criterion validity) of BNCE, 2) to examine the performance of the schizophrenia group and normal group on BNCE. Method: 60 chronic schizophrenia or schizoaffective patients and 60 normal subjects participated in the study. The schizophrenia group was assessed with BNCE, Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), and the Wechsler Adult Intelligent Scale-3rd edition (WAIS-III), while the normal group was evaluated with BNCE and MMSE. Result: BNCE demonstrated good reliability and validity in chronic schizophrenia patients. The results support the utility of BNCE as a screening measure for cognitive impairment in patients with schizophrenia. The schizophrenia group performed worse than the normal group on BNCE.