Objective: The Observable Social Cognition–A Rating Scale (OSCARS)
is an eight-item, interview-based psychometric tool that was developed
by Healey et al. (2015) for evaluating social cognition with respect
to the theory of mind, emotion perception, and attributional style in
schizophrenia. The aim of this study is to determine the validity and
reliability of the Turkish version of the scale.
Method: The study was conducted with 50 patients with schizophrenia
and schizoaffective disorder and 50 relatives of these patients using
the OSCARS, the Face Emotion Discrimination/Identification Test
(FEDT/FEIT), the Positive and Negative Symptoms Scale (PANSS),
the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) and the Dokuz Eylül
Theory of Mind Index (DEZIKO). The validity of the OSCARS was
assessed by exploratory factor analysis and concurrent validity analysis,
the reliability was demonstrated by the internal consistency coefficient,
item-total item correlation, and test-retest comparisons.
Results: The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of the OSCARS-TR was
0.83. Explanatory factor analysis yielded a 2-factor structure explaining
64.2% of the total variance of the scale. The total score of the OSCARSTR
correlated significantly with the DEZIKO (r=-0.49), the GAF (r=-
0.50), the PANSS (r=0.54) and the FEDT (r=-0.29) total scores but not
with the FEIT scores. The total scores of the OSCARS-TR completed
by the patients and by the relatives of the patients correlated with
statistical significance (r=0.93). The test-retest reliability coefficient of
OSCARS-TR was 0.95.
Conclusion: The results demonstrated the validity and the reliability of
the OSCARS-TR. The scale can be easily implemented on an interview
basis as an appropriate tool for evaluating social cognition.