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Download SCAN-program English version / Dutch version

Introduction | Method | Software | Reference Manual | Edited By | Description | Chapter Contents | Publisher | Advisory Committee (AC) | Present members of the AC

SCAN is a set of instruments and manuals aimed at assessing, measuring and classifying psychopathology and behaviour associated with the major psychiatric disorders in adult life. It can be used for clinical, research- and training purposes and was developed within the framework of the World Health Organization.

SCAN has a bottom-up approach where no diagnosis-driven frames are applied in grouping the symptoms. Each symptom is assessed in its own right. It has a proven stability and robustness to differentialy assess psychotic and neurotic states. It covers disorders like:

1 Somatoform disorders
2 Anxiety disorders
3 Mood disorders (depression, bipolar)
4 Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
5 Problems associated with appetite and sleep
6 Eating disorders
7 Psychosis (e.g. schizophrenia)
8 Organic disorders
9 Substance abuse (alcohol, drugs)
10 Observation sections (e.g. affect, speech)

The method used is that of a semi-structured standardized clinical interview, with cross-examination of the subject. The order in which the sections are done depends on the most important symptoms of the respondent. There is no fixed order. This makes the SCAN approach a very flexible and versatile one. It is very suitable for patients who are difficult to interview.
Each section starts with obligatory queries about symptoms of that particular section (e.g. general questions about panic attacks and phobias in the anxiety section). If these orienting queries are answered affirmatively or the interviewer has doubts, the questions below the cut-off point are also asked. Rating is done on the basis of matching the answers of the respondent against the definitions of the symptoms in the Glossary, which is an integral part of SCAN. All the symptoms and signs and classification items are defined in this Glossary, which is largely based on the phenomenology of Jaspers. Unlike instruments like the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (Robins et al ), where the decision about the clinical significance is based on a standard set of questions (the probe flow chart), with SCAN the interviewer decides what to rate on the basis of the subject's information, always bearing the definitions and rating rules in mind.
Possible ratings are: symptom (sx) not present, present but below the severity of a sx, sx present to a moderate degree, sx present to a severe degree >50% of the reference period (usually, but not necessarily, the past month). Attributions to physical causes or to the use of psychoactive substances can be made for each item or for each section.

The following episode options are available:
Present State: the past month by default, or extended to up to 6 weeks
Representative Episode: a period during which the sx were present in a more charachteristic or severe degree. This could be any episode in the life of the subject.
Lifetime Before (the subject's entire life up to the Present State)
Lifetime Ever (during the subject's entire life).
After finishing the interview the data are entered into the entry programme (the laptop version of SCAN (Ishell) allows entering data directly). Subsequently the data are fed into algorithms for ICD-10 and DSM-IV diagnoses. These algorithms produce a diagnostic classification for both systems.

The program is available as of 22 December 1999.
It is provided free of charge to those who have done the SCAN course in a WHO Training and Research Center. Only they will be given the password which is required for installation. The program encompasses the interview (in English) and the diagnostic algorithms for ICD-10 and DSM-IV. It runs under Windows 95 and higher.
Click here to download the English program from the WHO site.
The Dutch version is also ready and is available from this site.

Recently the book "Diagnosis and clinical measurement in psychiatry, a reference manual for SCAN/PSE-10" was published by Cambridge University Press. Find more details below.

J. K. Wing, Royal College of Psychiatrists
N. Sartorius, University of Geneva
T. B. Üstün, World Health Organisation

In order to help people with a mental illness it is important to be able to understand and measure the severity of the experiences that they find distressing and disabling and which can affect their behaviour. SCAN is a form of interview, found acceptable to patients, which provides a detailed and accurate picture of ‘mental state’. When analysed by computer it provides a diagnosis that is comparable wherever the system is used. The 9th edition of the Present State Examination (PSE-9) was published in 1974 and served to link the two main approaches to the description and classification of psychological problems. PSE-10/SCAN builds on the experience of extensive tests using PSE-9. It retains the main features of PSE-9 and links together the latest two international classification systems - ICD-10 and DSM-IV. This reference manual is a companion to the SCAN interview schedule and software. It describes the rationale and development of the system and provides a valuable introduction to its uses.

Cambridge University Press, ISBN: 0 521 43477 7

An advisory committee (AC) meets once a year to review the necessary development and changes to SCAN. Its activities encompass topics like: the development of SCAN 2.1, computerprogrammes, algorithms for ICD-10 and DSM-IV, the policy as regards further dissemination of the SCAN, establishing of new training centres, etc.

Laura Andrade (Sao Paulo, Brasil)
Terry Brugha (chairman, Leicester, England)
Somnath Chatterji (Bangalore, India)
Wilson Compton III (St Louis,United States of America)
Ahmet Gögüs (Ankara,Turkey)
Assen Jablensky (Perth, Australia)
Venos Mavreas (Athens, Greece)
Ole Mors (Aarhus, Denmark)
Fokko Nienhuis (Vice-chair, Groningen, the Netherlands)
Alan Romanoski (Baltimore, United States of America)
Bedirhan Üstün (WHO, Geneva, Switzerland)
Jose Luis Vázquez-Barquéro (Santander, Spain)
John Wing (London, England)

Their addresses can be found here.
click here to view a photograph of the 2000 meeting of the AC in Groningen