ASSESSMENT OF INDEPENDENT LIVING SKILLS FOR PSYCHOTIC-PATIENTS - FURTHER VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY

It is well known that psychotic patients have severe social and life-s kill deficits. Psychiatric rehabilitation programs are designed to tea ch these skills to patients. Before implementing such a program, patie nt deficits should be evaluated with reliable measures. The present st udy assessed the psychometric properties of the French version of the ''Independent Living Skills Survey'' (ILSS) developed by Wallace, Koch anowicz and Wallace (Wallace CJ, Kochanowicz N, Wallace J [1985] Indep endent living skills survey. Unpublished manuscript, Mental Health Cli nical Research Center for the Study of Schizophrenia, West Los Angeles Veterans Administration Medical Center, Rehabilitation Medicine Servi ce [Brentwood Division], Los Angeles, CA). Although widely used, the p atient version of this scale has unknown psychometric properties. The ILSS was composed of 75 items, rated as present or absent and distribu ted in 10 scales. The French version was administered to 145 patients with a psychotic diagnosis who were living in the community. Ah scales had very good psychometric qualities with the exception of the job-ma intenance scale. The test-retest reliability varied from .48 to .85, a nd alpha coefficients were good for seven of the nine scales. Various aspects of construct validity were explored. The scales discriminated between patients as a function of their subgroups, sex, and diagnosis. Concurrent validity confirmed the specificity of the ILSS dimensions. Factor analysis revealed two factors, one for basic skills and one re presenting higher order skills. Recommendations for future development of the ILSS are proposed.