Psychiatric symptoms influence the performance on the Screener Intelligence and Learning Disabilities in general mental health care in The Netherlands
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/AMHID-12-2021-0052 |
| Published date | 16 June 2022 |
| Date | 16 June 2022 |
| Pages | 211-215 |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Learning & intellectual disabilities |
| Author | Jeanet Nieuwenhuis,Eric Noorthoorn,Peter Lepping,Niels Mulder,Henk Nijman |
Psychiatric symptoms influence the
performance on the Screener Intelligence
and Learning Disabilities in general mental
health care in The Netherlands
Jeanet Nieuwenhuis, Eric Noorthoorn, Peter Lepping, Niels Mulder and Henk Nijman
Abstract
Purpose –A recently publishedstudy showed a 41% prevalence of mild intellectualdisability (MID) and
borderlineintellectual functioning (BIF) in a largesample of Dutch psychiatric patients.This study aims to
examineif the outcomesof the Screener for Intelligence and Learning Disabilities(SCIL) were affected by
the severityof psychiatric symptoms during admission.
Design/methodology/approach –The authors administeredthe SCIL and the Kennedy Axis V(domain
psychological impairment) at two moments when patients were sufficiently stabilised and just before
discharge.
Findings –A total of 86% of the respondents had the same outcome regardless of the time of
administration.The Kennedy score correlated modestlywith changes in the SCIL scores, suggesting that
the severityof psychiatric symptoms just modestlyaffected the performance.
Practical implications –Recognising MID/BIF in mental health care is essential but challenging for
clinicians. The authors concluded that screening with the SCIL allowsclinicians to identify patients with
MID/BIF at an earlystage of their admission, which helps to individualisetreatment and reduce the risk of
aggression, coercive measures and prolonged admissions. However, the authors prefer to assess all
patientson cognitive impairment as early as possibleafter referral at a more stable moment in time.
Originality/value –To the best of the authors’ knowledge, there is no research concerning screening
instrumentson MID/BIF used at admission wards in MentalHealth Care.
Keywords SCIL, Acute psychiatric admission, Mental state, Intellectual performance, Screening,
Borderline intellectual functioning, Mild intellectual disability
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
For professionals working in acute wards in general Mental Health Care, it is essential to
have a reliable estimate of their patients’intellectual level of functioning. This allows the
individualised provisionof appropriate treatment. A recently published study showed a 41%
prevalence of mild intellectual disability (MID) and borderlineintellectual functioning (BIF) in
a large sample of Dutch psychiatric patients (Nieuwenhuis et al., 2021a). This was far more
than expected and previouslyrecognised by the clinician. Completing a full IQ test during a
short admission is rarely feasibleand is of limited validity (Merz et al., 2021). In such cases,
intellectual capacity may be estimated by using brief screening tools. One of these
screening tools increasingly used in The Netherlands is the Screener for Intelligence and
Learning disabilities (SCIL;Nijman et al., 2018;Kaal et al., 2015a). This is a test consisting of
14 questions and small tasks with high reliability in detecting MID and BIF (Kaal et al.,
2015b). Patients screened suspectedfor MID/BIF by the SCIL, have been found to have an
(Informationabout the
authorscan be found at the
end of this article.)
Received 28 December 2021
Revised 19 April 2022
Accepted 9 May 2022
Conflicts of interests: One of the
authors of this article
(H. Nijman) was a (co-)author of
both the aggression scale
(SOAS-R) and the Screener for
Intelligence and Learning
Disabilities (SCIL) that were
used to collect data in this
study. The other authors have
no conflicts of interest.
Availability of data: Data
analysis was performed on fully
anonymised data that could not
be used to identify an
individual. Data are, after
request to the third author,
available at the Radboud
repository, University
Nijmegen, for uploading.
Code availability: Analysis was
done in SPSS 6 Version 27.
Data can be acquired from the
second author.
Ethical considerations: All
procedures performed in the
current study were in
accordance with the ethical
standards of the Ethics
committee of the regional
hospital of Enschede, The
Netherlands, as obtained in
2014 and with the 1964 Helsinki
declaration and its later
amendments or comparable
ethical standards. Data were
analysed on fully anonymised
data of which none of the cases
could be identified to an
individual.
DOI 10.1108/AMHID-12-2021-0052 VOL. 16 NO. 4 2022, pp. 211-215, ©Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 2044-1282 jADVANCES IN MENTAL HEALTH AND INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES jPAGE 211
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