1. Rivermead Behavioural Memory Test performance in schizophrenic patients Ruiz, J.C. (1), Fuentes, I. (1), Tomás, P. (2), Soler, M.J. (1) and García Merita, M. (1) (1) School of Psychology. University of Valencia (Spain) (2) Center for Rehabilitation and Social Integration (CRIS) in Valencia (Spain) XIII World Congress of Psychiatry. Cairo, 10-15 September 2005 INTRODUCTION Memory has been identified as one of the key neurocognitive deficits that characterize schizophrenia. It has been established that memory deficit in schizophrenia is not a part of a pattern of generally poor cognitive performance but a specific deficit (McKenna, Onrstein, & Baddeley, 2002). Previous research has shown that in comparison with normal control subjects, schizophrenics have significant impaired performance on: verbal and nonverbal episodic memory, working memory, and semantic memory tasks. All those memory measures are obtained using laboratory tasks and do not give information about a different aspect of memory: everyday memory or memory problems reported by adults in everyday life. This type of memory is crucial for effective day-to-day functioning and its assessment could provide useful information to design cognitive rehabilitation programs. The purpose of the current study was to examine how schizophrenic patients perform on everyday memory using the Rivermead Behavioural Memory Test (RBMT) of Wilson, Cockburn and Baddeley (1985) to provide some indication of everyday memory impairment in these patients. The RBMT comprises 12 subtests designed to give an objective measure of everyday memory aspects. The RBMT has norms for ages 5 – 96 years, and has been developed for people with brain damage, the elderly and ‘normal’ subjects. Performance on the RBMT is expressed as a total screening score (range = 0 – 12), the number of tests passed out of a maximum of 12; or as a total profile score (range = 0 - 24), that weight each subtest equally in relation to the others to provide comparable scores across the test battery. METHOD Participants Forty three outpatients, who were diagnosed as having schizophrenia according to the DSM-IV, participated in the study. The study took place at a CRIS (Center for rehabilitation and social integration) in Valencia. This center is part of the Social Welfare Department of the Valencia Community Government in Spain. Table 1 shows the characteristics of the sample. Procedure. All participants were tested with the RBMT Spanish version (Mozaz, 1999) (see table 2), and with a short form of the WAIS-III (Blyler, Gold, Iannone and Buchana, 2000) which yield an IQ score. The subtests of the RBMT were administered consecutively over a period of 30-40 min. and instructions were explained verbally. A trained psychologist carried out the assessments of subjects. RESULTS Figure 1 shows the distribution of screening scores on the RBMT, and table 3 the scores in each subtests. Using the cut-off points specified in the manual 41.86 % of the schizophrenic patients showed normal memory, 41.86 % poor memory and 16.28 % moderated or severely impaired memory. The mean screening score was 8.51 (SD= 2.50; range= 2 - 12), and the mean profile score was 18.42 (SD = 4.17; range = 9 - 24). The mean IQ score was 84.28 (SD = 15; range = 57 - 122). A repeated-measures, within-subjects ANOVA was conducted across all subtests profile scores. There was a significant difference between performance on the 12 subtests [F(11,462) = 2.46; p = 0.02). In a post hoc analysis using the Tukey test there were significant differences between subtests. This suggests that ‘Delayed route’, ‘Belonging’, ‘Immediate route’, and ‘Immediate / Delayed message’ subtests are particularly difficult for this population. This subtests are basically related with prospective memory (remembering to perform some action at some point in the future). On the other side subtests that measure recall or recognition are the easiest. Profile scores were correlated with IQ, age and duration of illness (Pearson’s r). There was only one significant correlation between profile scores and IQ (r = 0.34; p = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS The main findings of the present study were: Everyday memory is a specific domain of memory that is impaired in schizophrenia. Not all patients show a deficit, but most have some or moderate to severe memory difficulties. The current study found everyday memory problems. There was a significant difference in performance across the 12 subtests. Subtests that measure prospective memory were the most difficult and subtests that measure recall and recognition were the easiest. Educational / Rehabilitation packages, specifically those devoted to enhance cognitive functioning need to take into account the level of memory impairment of the patient. REFERENCES Blyler, C.R.., Gold, J.M., Iannone, V.N. & Buchana, R.W. (2000). Short form of the WAIS-III for use with patients with schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research, 46, 209-215. McKenna, P., Ornstein, T. & Baddeley, A.D. (2002). Shcizophrenia. In A.D. Baddeley, M.D. Kopelman and B.A. Wilson (Eds), The handbook of memory disorders. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd Wilson, B.A., Cockburn, J.M. & Baddeley, A.D. (1985). The Rivermead Behavioural Memory Test. Bury St Edmunds: Thames Valley Test Co.