| Abstrakt: |
The discriminative power of the Hoffer-Osmond Diagnostic Test (HOD), which has been presented as a useful test in the diagnosis of schizophrenia, was studied by administering the test to a group of female patients within three days of their admission to a provincial mental hospital. Of the 172 patients tested, 38 were omitted from the study because they were suffering from some form of organic disturbance (N = 36) or were assigned a mixed diagnosis (N = 2). The remaining 134 patients were divided into four groups: Schizophrenics (N = 64), Other Psychoses (N = 31), Psychoneurotics (N = 29), Character and Behaviour Disorders (N = 10). Statistical comparison of these four groups on each of three HOD scores, Paranoid, Perceptual and Total Score, by means of a non-parametric analysis of variance revealed no significant differences between groups. The present scoring system utilized with the HOD test does not appear to possess sufficient validity to warrant its usage for clinical diagnostic purposes. |
