FACTOR-ANALYSIS OF THE FRANKFURT COMPLAINT QUESTIONNAIRE IN A SPANISHSAMPLE

The Frankfurt Complaint Questionnaire (FCQ) is a self-assessment instr ument designed to evaluate the subjective experiences (SE) of psychoti c patients, It is composed of 98 yes-no items grouped in ten phenomeno logical subscales. The original validation of the FCQ included a facto r analysis with a four-factor structure. No further studies of factor validity have been carried out. The present study aimed to replicate t he factor structure of the FCQ in a Spanish sample. The sample was com posed of 286 consecutively admitted patients due to a recrudescence of their psychotic symptoms. They were evaluated through a semistructure d interview for schizophrenia and diagnosed according to DSFVI-III-R c riteria. Organic mental disorders were excluded, Sixteen patients who failed to fulfill the FCQ were excluded. The sample finally comprised 270 patients. A factor structure of FCQ items comprising 25 factors wa s found. The first factor obtained the highest explained variance, and most items obtained their highest load on the first factor. These res ults strongly suggest a unidimensionality underlying FCQ items. A new scale composed of 18 items was derived from those with higher weights in the first factor. The new scale of SE was presented in a Likert for mat to demonstrate their frequency and intensity more clearly.