Schizophrenia Research
Volume 42, Issue 1 , Pages 67-77, 16 March 2000

Reliability of the Life Chart Schedule for assessment of the long-term course of schizophrenia

  • Ezra Susser

      Affiliations

    • Columbia University, Department of Psychiatry, New York, NY, USA
    • New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA
    • Columbia University, Division of Epidemiology, New York, NY, USA
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Present address: 601 West 168th Street, Suite 32, New York, NY 10032, USA. Tel.: +1-212-740-6316; fax: +1-212-795-9768
    • ,
  • Molly Finnerty

      Affiliations

    • Columbia University, Department of Psychiatry, New York, NY, USA
    • ,
  • Ramin Mojtabai

      Affiliations

    • Columbia University, Department of Psychiatry, New York, NY, USA
    • ,
  • Scott Yale

      Affiliations

    • Columbia University, Department of Psychiatry, New York, NY, USA
    • ,
  • Sarah Conover

      Affiliations

    • New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA
    • ,
  • Ray Goetz

      Affiliations

    • Columbia University, Department of Psychiatry, New York, NY, USA
    • New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA
    • ,
  • Xavier Amador

      Affiliations

    • Columbia University, Department of Psychiatry, New York, NY, USA
    • New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA

Received 10 August 1998; accepted 3 May 1999.

Abstract 

We report on the inter-rater reliability of the Life Chart Schedule (LCS). The LCS is designed to assess the long-term course of schizophrenia in four key domains (symptoms, treatment, residence, and work) over two time periods (past two years, entire period of illness). The subjects were 27 consecutive admissions to a schizophrenia research unit. The LCS was filled out by pairs of raters, blinded to each others' ratings, using the same data (interview with subject and chart). Reliability was examined for 45 LCS ratings selected from all four domains and both time periods. Selected ratings pertained to the duration of specified experiences, the quality of these experiences, and the long-term time trend. The kappa statistic and the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) were used to determine inter-rater reliability for continuous and categorical ratings, respectively. LCS ratings proved reliable in all four key domains and both time periods. The reliability was fair to excellent for ratings of duration of experience (ICC ranged from 0.53 to 0.99), quality of experience (kappa ranged from 0.46 to 0.92) and long-term time trends (kappa ranged from 0.66 to 0.94). The LCS can be used to obtain reliable ratings of the long-term course of schizophrenia in multiple domains.

Keywords:  Life chart, Long-term course, Schizophrenia

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PII: S0920-9964(99)00088-2

Schizophrenia Research
Volume 42, Issue 1 , Pages 67-77, 16 March 2000

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