Past Issues

　　Objectives: To assess the appropriateness of Blyler's and four other subtests of the short form of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III (WAIS-III) for Taiwanese inpatients with chronic schizophrenia. Methods: The subjects enrolled in this study were inpatients recruited from three different hospitals and the normal controls were volunteers recruited from communities. A total of 103 patients with schizophrenia and 66 normal controls were enrolled. All participants were administered the WAIS-III (Chinese Version) with 14 subtests in standard procedures described in the test manual. In addition, the administration time for each subtest was also recorded. Results: Results showed that the schizophrenia group had a larger full range than the normal control group among four index IQs. After analyzing all combinations from the four subtests, which belonged to the four index IQs, there were four combinations that were better than Blyler's short forms for accounted variance in full scale IQ (FSIQ), administration time and percentage of estimated FSIQ scores within 5 points of actual FSIQ. These forms were: Similarity - Block Design - Arithmetic - Digit Symbol Substitution (S-BD-A-DSS); Information - Block Design - Digit Span - Digit Symbol Substitution (I-BD-DS-DSS; Information - Matrix Reasoning - Digit Span - Digit Symbol Substitution (I-MR-DS-DSS); and, Information - Matrix Reasoning - Digit Span - Symbol Search (I-MR-DS-SS). Conclusion: Four compositions (S-BD-A-DSS, I-BD-DS-DSS, I-MR-DS-DSS and I-MR-DS-SS) were superior to Blyler's short forms for obtaining gross estimation of FSIQ in young inpatients with chronic schizophrenia, although interpretation of estimated IQ scores should be undertaken with caution. (Full text in Chinese.)