PANSS10/20 for Pediatric Trials: Reliability, Validity, & Sensitivity

A recent study published in European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry confirms that abbreviated versions of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) are reliable and effective tools for pediatric schizophrenia trials. Signant's Drs. Joan Busner and David Daniel, along with industry colleagues, successfully replicated and extended previous findings, demonstrating that both 10-item and 20-item PANSS versions maintain strong reliability, criterion validity, and treatment sensitivity when used with adolescent populations.

This validation study provides crucial evidence supporting the use of these shorter assessment tools in pediatric clinical trials, offering researchers practical alternatives that reduce assessment burden on young patients while maintaining measurement precision. The findings are particularly significant for the pediatric mental health research community, as they enable more efficient data collection without compromising the quality of clinical outcomes measurement in this vulnerable population.

This article was published in European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (2025). Authors include Joan Busner, Eric A. Youngstrom, Joshua A. Langfus, David G. Daniel, and Robert L. Findling, representing academic institutions and clinical research organizations.