Lunsers is a well validated and widely used self-rating assessment for measuring
the side-effects of anti psychotic medications.
The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines for schizophrenia
suggest that routine monitoring of medication side-effects is an element of good
practice when caring for people diagnosed as experiencing Schizophrenia.
There is much evidence linking poor treatment outcomes, relapse and self injurious
behaviour in psychosis to poor medication concordance/compliance, a key factor in
improving concordance is effectively monitoring and managing side-effects.
eLunsers is a computerised version of the scale that provides accurate automatic
self scoring across the 7 subscales and also provides rich information in the form
of trend graphs that allow careful monitoring of the frequency and severity of side
effects across time.
A self-rating scale for measuring neuroleptic side-effects. Validation in a
group of schizophrenic patients
The British Journal of Psychiatry 166: 650-653 (1995)
© 1995 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
JC Day, G Wood, M Dewey and RP Bentall
Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Liverpool.
BACKGROUND. A study was conducted to validate a comprehensive self- rating
scale for measuring side-effects of neuroleptic drugs. METHOD. The Liverpool University
Neuroleptic Side Effect Rating Scale (LUNSERS), which includes 'red herring' items,
was twice administered to 50 DSM-III-R schizophrenic patients, who were also interviewed
using the UKU side-effect rating scale; 50 unmedicated controls also completed the
LUNSERS. RESULTS.
The test-retest reliability of the LUNSERS was good (r = 0.811, P < 0.001) as
was its concurrent validity against the UKU (r = 0.828, P < 0.001). Scores correlated
with chlorpromazine equivalent doses (r = 0.310, P < 0.02). ROC analysis demonstrated
that the scale discriminated between patients and non- medicated controls, who scored
differently for real side-effects but not for 'red herring' items.
CONCLUSIONS. The LUNSERS is an efficient, reliable and valid method of assessing
neuroleptic side-effects.