Introduction

Psychiatric disorders are a leading cause of disability and impairment. The degree of disability is not always correlated with the severity of psychiatric symptoms. Nonetheless the mostly used scales measure symptom severity, functioning is marginally measured. This is a consequence of the complexity of the definition of functioning and disability, foreseeing its applicability in daily praxis. The mini- ICF APP was developed to fulfill this gap.

Examine the validity of the mini-ICF APP in terms of change in relation of clinical characteristics, symptomatology and outcome.

Establish the validity and performance of the mini-ICF APP compared with the Brief Symptom Scale (BSI), Clinical Global Impression (CGI) Scales, Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) and the Health of the Nation Outcome Scales (HoNOS)

The sample consisted of N = 228 subsequent admissions from one Swiss psychiatric hospital who were assessed the mini-ICF APP, BSI, CGI, GAF and HoNOS at admission and discharge. Repeated measures analyses of variance were conducted to compare changes in Mini-ICF APP scores over time.

Mini-ICF APP scores significantly decreased from admission to discharge. The mini-ICF APP correlated moderately with change measured by BSI; a strong correlation was found with CGI, GAF and HoNOS scores. No main effect of time was found in multivariate models.

The mini-ICF APP seems to be an appropriate measurement instrument applicable in psychiatric settings.