Applicability of the Spanish Version of the Supports Intensity Scale (SIS), in the Mexican Population with Severe Mental Illness

Abstract

This study presents the results obtained from the evaluation, by specialist judges, of the Supports Intensity Scale (SIS), Spanish version, to determine its suitability for the Mexican population with severe mental illness (SMI). The instrument, originally designed for people with intellectual disabilities, is consistent with the multidimensional concept of quality of life and the social model of disability. The semantic equivalence of the items adjusted by specialist judges, the reliability of the subscales, using Cronbach's alpha, and the concurrent validity between the SIS and the Global Functioning Assessment (GAF) were analyzed. The mean similarity to the original was 9.91 from a total of 10 (sd=0.14). The reliability coefficients were above 0.95 and the correlations between the SIS and the GAF were medium to high and significant. In conclusion, in the Mexican context, the SIS scale can be used to understand the needs and expectations of people with mental illness.

The validity of the Supports Intensity Scale for adults with psychiatric disabilities

“…The results support the previous validity evidence of Jenaro et al (2011) and Ortiz et al (2010) and are similar in strength, despite differences in criterion variables and cultural environment. This convergence of the existing three studies is important in establishing the criterion-related validity of SIS.…”

“…Overall these results are similar to those reported by Ortiz et al (2010) and Jenaro et al (2011) for persons with psychiatric disabilities.…”

“…Overall, internal consistency for parts A-F and SNI was lower than Ortiz et al (2010) reported but similar to the results of Jenaro et al (2011). To the best of our knowledge, no previous results are available for exceptional medical or behavioural supports.…”

“…Similar to the two previous studies of Ortiz et al (2010) and Jenaro et al (2011) it does not provide information on the factorial structure of SIS. Low incremental validity of parts A-F over the SNI suggests that factorial structure may not transfer from persons with ID over to psychiatric disabilities (see also Bossaert et al, 2009) but resolving this empirically requires a much larger study.…”

“…In contrast, two studies have addressed the validity of SIS for psychiatric disabilites (Jenaro et al, 2011;Ortiz, Río, Rodríguez, & Robaina, 2010). Ortiz et al (2010) studied 85 persons with severe mental illness, mostly schizophrenia (73%) or bipolar disorder (13%), in the Mexican state of San Luis Potosi. The global assessment of functioning (GAF), a measure of adaptive functioning, was the dependent variable.…”