Spanish adaptation of the Markova and Berrios Insight scale.

INTRODUCTION

The aim of this study was to adapt the Markova and Berrios Insight scale in Spanish and to analyze its psychometric properties and relationships to the severity of the psychotic symptoms.

METHODOLOGY

A translation-backtranslation of the original scale was elaborated and a panel of professionals participated to assess conceptual equivalence and naturality. This is a 30-item self-administered scale with response options Yes/No. A total of 170 psychotic patients were assessed according to DSM-IV-TR diagnostic criteria. Confirmatory factor analysis validated the structure originally proposed. Internal consistency was evaluated using Cronbach’s Alpha Coefficient and the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC). We calculated the association between variables with Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient.

RESULTS

The 4-factors structure originally proposed by Markova and Berrios was verified. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient value for the whole scale was 0.824, indicating good internal consistency. The ICC value was 0.855. There were no statistically significant relationships between severity of psychotic symptoms and the lack of insight.

CONCLUSIONS

The Spanish adaptation of the Markova and Berrios Insight Scale has good internal and external reliability. It is simple and easy to perform and very sensitive to change.