Assessing Motor Neurological Soft Signs in Schizophrenia: Confirmatory Factor Analysis of Portuguese Version of BMS-P

Abstract

Motor Neurological Soft Signs (MNSS) has been increasingly studied in people with schizophrenia spectrum, contributing to the knowledge of psychomotor disorders. However, there is still scarce the availability of valid and reliable instruments for this assessment worldwide, and in Portugal there is none. Objective: The aim of this study was to analyze the factor structure model of the Portuguese version of the Brief Motor Scale. Method: The confirmatory factor analysis was conducted in a sample of 103 participants with schizophrenia, 82 males and 21 females, mean age 44.21 (+11.25). A one-factor model was compared with three two-factor models based on the literature and a previous exploratory factor analysis. Results: The results of this study showed good fit indices and provide evidence to support a two-factor model for the assessment of motor neurological soft signs in persons with schizophrenia. Conclusions: It was proposed a new construct for MNSS assessment consists of 2 domains and 9 items distributed among them.