A Cross-National Investigation of Hallucination-Like Experiences in 10 Countries: The E-CLECTIC Study

• Autor(a) principal: Siddi, Sara
• Data de Publicação: 2019
• Outros Autores: Ochoa, Susana, Laroi, Frank, Cella, Matteo, Raballo, Andrea, Saldivia, Sandra, Quijada, Yanet, Laloyaux, Julien, Rocha, Nuno, Lincoln, Tania M, Schlier, Björn, Ntouros, Evangelos, Bozikas, Vasileios P, Gawęda, Łukasz, Machado, Sergio, Nardi, Antonio E, Rodante, Demián, Deshpande, Smita N, Haro, Josep Maria, Preti, Antonio
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.22/12915

Hallucination-like experiences (HLEs) are typically defined as sensory perceptions in the absence of external stimuli. Multidimensional tools, able to assess different facets of HLEs, are helpful for a better characterization of hallucination proneness and to investigate the cross-national variation in the frequencies of HLEs. The current study set out to establish the validity, factor structure, and measurement invariance of the Launay-Slade Hallucinations Scale-Extended (LSHS-E), a tool to assess HLEs. A total of 4419 respondents from 10 countries were enrolled. Network analyses between the LSHS-E and the 3 dimensions of the Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences (CAPE) were performed to assess convergent and divergent validity of the LSHS-E. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test its measurement invariance. The best fit was a 4-factor model, which proved invariant by country and clinical status, indicating cross-national stability of the hallucination-proneness construct. Among the different components of hallucination-proneness, auditory-visual HLEs had the strongest association with the positive dimension of the CAPE, compared with the depression and negative dimensions. Participants who reported a diagnosis of a mental disorder scored higher on the 4 LSHS-E factors. Small effect size differences by country were found in the scores of the 4 LSHS-E factors even after taking into account the role of socio-demographic and clinical variables. Due to its good psychometric properties, the LSHS-E is a strong candidate tool for large investigations of HLEs.