SHBC1315

A.JEYAGURUNATHAN¹, J.H.LAU¹, E.ABDIN¹, E.SAMARI¹, S.CHANG¹, L.CETTY¹, S.SHAFIE¹, C.Y.Z.TANG¹, S.A.CHONG¹, M.SUBRAMANIAM¹

Institute of Mental Health¹

Aggression has been defined as behaviors, or verbal interactions, that are intended to upset or harm another person. The aim of the study was to examine the underlying factor structure and socio-demographic and clinical correlates of BPAQ among outpatients with schizophrenia and related psychoses.

400-outpatients were recruited from Institute of mental health. BPAQ is a 29-item, four-factor instrument that measures physical aggression, verbal aggression, anger and hostility. Confirmatory factor analysis(CFA) was performed to establish the validity of the factor structure of the BPAQ. Multivariable linear regression models to assess the associations of sociodemographic and clinical variables with BPAQ scores.

BPAQ total mean score of the participants was 65.5(SD=21.6). Factor structure obtained from the CFA indicated that a higher order four-factor solution has an acceptable fit to the observed data(WLSMV χ2 = 1025.35, df = 320, RMSEA=0.07, CFI=0.94, TLI=0.93, SRMR=0.05). Females had lower physical and hostility aggression scores compared to males. Those with lower education had higher physical aggression scores compared to those with higher education. Individuals who received a diagnosis after 30 years had higher physical and anger aggression scores compared to those who received a diagnosis at and before 20 years. Symptom severity was positively associated with total and subdomains scores of BPAQ.

The study findings demonstrate that gender, education level, ages of onset and symptoms severity was significantly associated with aggression. Early implementation of risk protocols as well as psychoeducation in this vulnerable group may potentially reduce the risk of aggression in patients with schizophrenia and related psychoses.