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The Social Functioning Questionnaire: A Rapid and Robust Measure of Perceived Functioning

Author

Listed:
  • Peter Tyrer

    (Department of Psychological Medicine, Imperial College (Charing Cross Campus), Claybrook Centre, St Dunstan's Road, London, W6 8RP, UK.p.tyrer@imperial.ac.uk)

  • Ula Nur
  • Mike Crawford

    (Department of Psychological Medicine, Imperial College (Charing Cross Campus), London, UK.)

  • Saffron Karlsen

    (Department of Epidemiology & Public Health, Royal Free & University College Medical School, London, UK.)

  • Claire MacLean
  • Bharti Rao

    (Department of Psychological Medicine, Imperial College (Charing Cross Campus), London, UK.)

  • Tony Johnson

    (MRC Biostatistics Unit, Institute of Public Health, Cambridge, UK)

Abstract

Background: The Social Functioning Questionnaire (SFQ), an eight-item selfreport scale (score range 0–24), was developed from the Social Functioning Schedule (SFS), a semi-structured interview which has been used primarily with non-psychotic patients and has good test-retest and inter-rater reliability as well as construct validity. The SFQ was developed following the need for a quick assessment of perceived social function. Aims: To give further details of old and new data sets from studies involving over 4000 subjects assessed with the SFQ illustrating its epidemiological and clinical associations. Method: New data were analysed from a national epidemiological study, a comparison of key-worker and subject versions of the SFQ, and reanalysis of data from three earlier clinical studies, of psychiatric emergencies, general practice psychiatric patients and those with recurrent psychotic illnesses. These data were examined further to determine their range, their relationship to other clinical measures, and change over time in clinical trials. Results: The population mean score in 4164 subjects was 4.6 and the data from all studies suggested that a score of 10 or more indicated poor social functioning. Those presenting as psychiatric emergencies had the poorest social function (mean 11.4) and psychiatric patients from general practice the best function (mean 7.7) of the clinical populations. The eight item scores had a normal distribution in psychiatric populations and a skewed one in a normal population; scores were relatively stable over the short (weeks) and long-term (months), and were high in the presence of acute mental health disturbance and personality disorder, giving support to the validity of the scale. The results from a UK sample of a randomly selected population specifically weighted for ethnic minorities showed similar social function across groups.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter Tyrer & Ula Nur & Mike Crawford & Saffron Karlsen & Claire MacLean & Bharti Rao & Tony Johnson, 2005. "The Social Functioning Questionnaire: A Rapid and Robust Measure of Perceived Functioning," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 51(3), pages 265-275, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:51:y:2005:i:3:p:265-275
    DOI: 10.1177/0020764005057391
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Andrea Lang & Egbert Steiner & Gerlinde Berghofer & Helga Henkel & Margot Schmitz & Friedrich Schmidi & Stephan Rudas, 2002. "Quality of Life and Other Characteristics of Viennese Mental Health Care Users," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 48(1), pages 59-69, March.
    2. Peter Tyrer & Vanessa Jones & Simon Thompson & Jose Catalan & Ulrike Schmidt & Kate Davidson & Martin Knapp & Obioha C. Ukoumunne, 2003. "Service Variation in Baseline Variables and Prediction of Risk in a Randomised Controlled Trial of Psychological Treatment in Repeated Parasuicide: The Popmact Study," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 49(1), pages 58-69, March.
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    Cited by:

    1. Helen Tyrer & Leila Ali & Faye Cooper & Paula Seivewright & Paul Bassett & Peter Tyrer, 2013. "The Schedule for Evaluating Persistent Symptoms (SEPS): A new method of recording medically unexplained symptoms," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 59(3), pages 281-287, May.
    2. Daniel Fu Keung Wong & Yves Cho Ho Cheung & Lindsay G Oades & Shengquan Sam Ye & Yat-nam Petrus Ng, 2024. "Strength-based cognitive-behavioural therapy and peer-to-peer support in the recovery process for people with schizophrenia: A randomised control trial," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 70(2), pages 364-377, March.
    3. Reema Samuel & Paul SS Russell & Tapan Kumar Paraseth & Sharmila Ernest & KS Jacob, 2016. "Development and validation of the Vellore Occupational Therapy Evaluation Scale to assess functioning in people with mental illness," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 62(7), pages 616-626, November.
    4. Helen Tyrer & Peter Tyrer & Barbara Barrett, 2013. "Influence of dependent personality status on the outcome and health service costs of health anxiety," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 59(3), pages 274-280, May.
    5. Andrew Stickley & Ai Koyanagi, 2018. "Physical multimorbidity and loneliness: A population-based study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(1), pages 1-13, January.
    6. Field, Andy Peter Professor & Wilcox, Rand R., 2017. "Robust statistical methods: a primer for clinical psychology and experimental psychopathology researchers," OSF Preprints v3nz4, Center for Open Science.
    7. Sarah Butter & Jamie Murphy & Mark Shevlin & James Houston, 2017. "Social isolation and psychosis-like experiences: a UK general population analysis," Psychosis, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(4), pages 291-300, October.
    8. Giles Newton-Howes & Doug Banks, 2014. "The subjective experience of community treatment orders: Patients’ views and clinical correlations," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 60(5), pages 474-481, August.

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