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Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies

We developed and tested the validity of a brief scale to assess everyday functioning in persons with serious mental illness. A sample of 434 adults with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder were administered the University of California, San Diego, Performance-Based Skills Assessment (UPSA), which assesses functional skills in 5 areas of life functioning (eg, finances and planning). Through use of factor analysis, we developed the UPSA-Brief, which consists of 2 subscales (communication and financial) from the original UPSA. UPSA-Brief scores were correlated with cognitive functioning, symptoms of psychosis, age, and education. We further tested the sensitivity and specificity of the UPSA-Brief for predicting residential independence using receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Finally, sensitivity to change was assessed through comparison of 2 interventions for improving UPSA-Brief scores. UPSA-Brief scores were highly correlated with scores on the full version of the UPSA (r = .91), with overall cognitive functioning (r = .57), and with negative symptoms (r = -.32). The discriminant validity of the UPSA-Brief was adequate (ROC area under the curve [AUC] = 0.73; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.67-0.78), with greatest dichotomization for the UPSA-Brief at a cutoff score of 60. The UPSA-Brief was significantly better than the Dementia Rating Scale, Positive and Negative Syndromes Scale positive, and Positive and Negative Syndromes Scale negative at predicting residential independence (all P values < .05). Participants receiving a behavioral intervention also improved significantly compared with a support condition (P = .023). The UPSA-Brief has adequate psychometric properties, predicts residential independence, is sensitive to change, and requires only 10-15 minutes to administer. Therefore, the UPSA-Brief may be a useful performance-based functional outcome scale.

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APA 7th

Mausbach, B. T., Harvey, P. D., Goldman, SR., Jeste, D. V., & Patterson, T. L. (2007). Development of a brief scale of everyday functioning in persons with serious mental illness. Schizophrenia bulletin. https://doi.org/10.1093/schbul/sbm014

Vancouver

Mausbach BT, Harvey PD, Goldman SR, Jeste DV, Patterson TL. Development of a brief scale of everyday functioning in persons with serious mental illness. Schizophrenia bulletin. 2007. doi:10.1093/schbul/sbm014. PMID: 17341468.

BibTeX

@article{mausbach2007-17341468,
  author  = {Mausbach, B. T. and Harvey, P. D. and Goldman, SR. and Jeste, D. V. and Patterson, T. L.},
  title   = {{Development of a brief scale of everyday functioning in persons with serious mental illness}},
  journal = {Schizophrenia bulletin},
  year    = {2007},
  doi     = {10.1093/schbul/sbm014},
  pmid    = {17341468},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.1093/schbul/sbm014}
}

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Key findings

UPSA-Brief scores were highly correlated with scores on the full version of the UPSA (r = .91), with overall cognitive functioning (r = .57), and with negative symptoms (r = -.32).
The UPSA-Brief was significantly better than the Dementia Rating Scale, Positive and Negative Syndromes Scale positive, and Positive and Negative Syndromes Scale negative at predicting residential independence (all P values < .05).
Participants receiving a behavioral intervention also improved significantly compared with a support condition (P = .023).

Why it matters

This study developed a brief scale of everyday functioning for people with serious mental illness such as schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. It is not a study of Alzheimer's disease treatment, and the Dementia Rating Scale is mentioned only as a comparison measure.

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Study details

Participants434
Evidence strengthLow

How this study scored 50/100

Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, effect reported and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it.

Component	Points	Why
Journal tier	7 / 10	Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Schizophrenia bulletin)
Journal's citation record	3 / 4	Schizophrenia Bulletin: journal h-index 298 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29)
Study design	0 / 12	No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Strength of evidence	1 / 5	Rated “low” in our summary
Peer-review validation	10 / 10	Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal.
How recent	1 / 5	2007 — within 20 year(s) of the newest study here
Sample size	2 / 4	434 participants
Effect reported	0 / 3	No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Studied in people	3 / 3	Studied in people (participant count stated)
Randomised / blinded	0 / 2	No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Times cited	6 / 7	Cited 379 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10)
Citations per year	3 / 5	18.0 citations a year over 21 year(s) since 2007
Impact for its field and year	2 / 6	Cited 2.9× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI)
Cited by studies here	0 / 6	No other study in this library cites it
Still being cited	2 / 4	Cited 37 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex)
Senior author's track record	4 / 4	Last-listed author Thomas L. Patterson: h-index 103 (OpenAlex, whole career)
Institution's track record	2 / 3	University of California San Diego: institution h-index 1,852 (OpenAlex)
Multi-centre collaboration	2 / 3	OpenAlex lists 4 institution(s) in 1 country
Indexed in PubMed	2 / 2	Indexed in PubMed (PMID 17341468)
Free to read	0 / 2	Behind a paywall — scores zero
Total	50 / 100	—

What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →

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