Dissemin is shutting down on January 1st, 2025

Published in

MDPI, Journal of Personalized Medicine, 4(11), p. 275, 2021

DOI: 10.3390/jpm11040275

Links

Tools

Export citation

Search in Google Scholar

Evaluation of Social Cognition Measures for Japanese Patients with Schizophrenia Using an Expert Panel and Modified Delphi Method

This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

Full text: Download

Green circle
Preprint: archiving allowed
Green circle
Postprint: archiving allowed
Green circle
Published version: archiving allowed
Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

Social cognition is strongly linked to social functioning outcomes, making it a promising treatment target. Because social cognition measures tend to be sensitive to linguistic and cultural differences, existing measures should be evaluated based on their relevance for Japanese populations. We aimed to establish an expert consensus on the use of social cognition measures in Japanese populations to provide grounds for clinical use and future treatment development. We assembled a panel of experts in the fields of schizophrenia, social psychology, social neuroscience, and developmental disorders. The panel engaged in a modified Delphi process to (1) affirm expert consensus on the definition of social cognition and its constituent domains, (2) determine criteria to evaluate measures, and (3) identify measures appropriate for Japanese patients with a view toward future quantitative research. Through two online voting rounds and two online video conferences, the panel agreed upon a definition and four-domain framework for social cognition consistent with recent literature. Evaluation criteria for measures included feasibility and tolerability, reliability, clinical effectiveness, validity, and international comparability. The panel finally identified nine promising measures, including one task originally developed in Japan. In conclusion, we established an expert consensus on key discussion points in social cognition and arrived at an expert-selected set of measures. We hope that this work facilitates the use of these measures in Japanese clinical scenarios. We plan to further examine these measures in a psychometric evaluation study.