Research and measure-based care of schizophrenia and related disorders requires a highly efficient assessment that works in clinical settings. Clinicians, including physicians, nurses, social workers, and other allied health professionals need to be able to gather data to support several ratings simultaneously, and be useful across clinical disciplines (psychiatry, nursing, social work, etc)., To meet this need, we have developed the Simplified Negative and Positive Symptoms Interview (SNAPSI).
The primary purpose of the SNAPSI is to facilitate quick and valid rating on the 6-item version of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS-6), and other measures such as; the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), the Brief Negative Symptom Scale (BNSS), the Clinical Global Impression-Severity (CGI-S) and Improvement (CGI-I) scales.
About the SNAPSI assessment
The SNAPSI is an assessment guide that includes probes and structures modeled on both standard semi-structured tools, such as the Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the BPRS, and Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale as well as newer tools for evaluation of negative symptoms, such as the Brief Negative Symptoms Scale (BNSS), the Negative Symptoms Assessment (NSA), and functional assessments, such as the Personal and Social Performance Scale. For example, in addition to standard probes for delusional ideas, and hallucinations, a section that asks the participant to describe emotional states directly, and a section on task sequencing allows direct and more efficient evaluation of affect and thought disorder than passive observation. Additionally, a well-integrated assessment section for caregivers adds an important component, clearly delineating how to evaluate collateral information from third-party sources.
In addition to enabling rating on scales such as the PANSS-6, SNAPSI can be used to:
- Collect information to rate selected items from the BPRS
- Supplement evaluations of negative symptoms, including those considered in the BNSS or the NSA
- Facilitate standardized rating on global severity rating scales such as the Clinical Global Impression – Severity (CGI-S) and Improvement (CGI-I) scales
The SNAPSI takes approximately 10-20 minutes to administer depending on the rater’s prior knowledge of the symptom severity. It is freely available for non-commercial clinical and academic use.
Download SNAPSI Resources
By submitting this form, you confirm that this is a non-commercial request for use of the Simplified Negative and Positive Symptom Scale (SNAPSI™). Any commercial use including but not limited to industry sponsored research will require a license for use. If translation is required, you will follow the translation methodology outlined in Appendix 1 and agree to provide the copy of translation for future academic and clinical use. Permission to use the SNAPSI requires that you update the copyright holder on an annual basis of all uses of the SNAPSI, including research protocols and clinical activities.
Complete the form to access SNAPSI resources: