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Parkinson's Psychosis Questionnaire (PPQ)
Availability
Please visit this website for more information about the instrument: Parkinson's Psychosis Questionnaire
Classification
Supplemental: Parkinson's Disease (PD)
Short Description of Instrument
The Parkinson's Psychosis Questionnaire (PPQ) is a screening tool for early detection of psychosis in PD. It measures the frequency and severity of four domains: sleep disturbances, hallucinations/illusions, delusions, and orientation. It was developed to screen early drug-induced psychosis in PD.
Comments/Special Instructions
The PPQ is a suggested scale for use in Parkinson's Disease Psychosis by a Movement Disorder Society Task Force in 2008 (Fernandez et al.2008).
Scoring and Psychometric Properties
Scoring: The PPQ has 14 questions falling into domains of sleep disturbance (3 items on restlessness, vivid dreams, and nightmares), hallucinations/illusions (4 items for visual, auditory, and tactile hallucinations),delusions (5 items on persecutory, jealousy, poisoning, abandonment, and control), and orientation (2 items on place and time). Frequency (1-3 points) and severity (1-3 points) are determined for each domain with domain subscores calculated as the frequency multiplied by the severity score. The total score is the sum of all subscores. A positive score on the domains of hallucinations/illusions and/or delusions has been used as a categorization of presence of psychosis (Brandstaedter et al., 2005).
 
Psychometric Properties: Specificity and sensitivity to the SCID diagnosis of psychosis were 92% and 100%, respectively and internal consistency was questionable (Cronbach's alpha = 0.68) (Brandstaedter et al., 2005).
Rationale/Justification
Strengths: Fast, screening tool conducive to most settings.
 
Weaknesses: The PPQ may overestimate psychosis. The PPQ includes orientation and sleep disturbances which are thought to be early signs of psychosis but are not psychotic phenomena. Limited use in PD.
References
Key Reference: Brandstaedter D, Spieker S, Ulm G, Siebert U, Eichhorn TE, Krieg JC, Oertel WH, Eggert K. Development and evaluation of the Parkinson Psychosis Questionnaire A screening-instrument for the early diagnosis of drug-induced psychosis in Parkinson's disease. J Neurol. 2005 Sep;252(9):1060-6.
 
Additional References:
Cargaleiro I, Serra M, Alves da Silva J, Neto B, Gonçalves-Pereira M, Bugalho P. Psychosis assessment in early-stage Parkinson's disease: comparing Parkinson's psychosis questionnaire with the brief psychiatric rating scale in a portuguese sample. Parkinsons Dis. 2012;2012:469126.
 
Fernandez HH, Aarsland D, FÉnelon G, Friedman JH, Marsh L, TrÖster AI, Poewe W, Rascol O, Sampaio C, Stebbins GT, Goetz CG. Scales to Assess Psychosis in Parkinson's Disease. Mov Disord. 2008 Mar 15;23(4):484-500.
 
Document last updated August 2022