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Competence to give informed consent in acute psychosis is associated with symptoms rather than diagnosis.

Howe V, Foister K, Jenkins K, Skene L, Copolov D, Keks N

Mental Health Research Institute, Locked Bag 11, Parkville, Victoria, 3052, Australia. vhowe@mhri.edu.au

To investigate the association between competence to give informed consent to treatment, specific symptomology and diagnostic category, 110 inpatients diagnosed with DSM-IV acute schizophrenia (n = 64), schizoaffective disorder (n = 25) and bipolar affective disorder (n = 21) were interviewed using the MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool for Treatment (MacCAT-T) and the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). Results indicated no significant difference in competence between the three disorders. Elevated positive, cognitive and excitement PANSS factor scores had lower MacCAT-T scores. Further analyses indicated symptoms that impair cognition; particularly, conceptual disorganisation and poor attention were most consistently related to poor performance on competence tests.

Published 8 August 2005 in Schizophr Res, 77(2): 211-4.
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