BACKGROUND: Psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) are subtle, subclinical perturbations of perceptions and thoughts and are common in the general population. Their characterisation and unidimensionality are still debated. METHODS: This study was conducted by the Electronic-halluCinations-Like Experiences Cross-culTural International Consortium (E-CLECTIC) and aimed at measuring the Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences (CAPE) factorial structure across five European countries (Belgium; Czech Republic, Germany; Greece, and Spain) and testing the adequacy of the unidimensional polytomous Rasch model of the tool via Partial Credit Model (PCM) of the CAPE to detect people with a high risk for developing psychosis. RESULTS: The sample included 1461 participants from the general population. The factorial analysis confirmed the best fit for the bifactor implementation of the three-factor model, including the positive, negative and depressive dimensions and a general factor. Moreover, the unidimensional polytomous Rasch analysis confirmed that CAPE responses reflected one underlying psychosis proneness. CONCLUSIONS: The study proved that the CAPE measures a single latent dimension of psychosis-proneness. The CAPE might help locate and estimate psychosis risk and can be used as a screening tool in primary care settings/education settings.

2nd Department of Psychiatry Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Psychiatric Hospital of Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Greece

Center for Translational Health and Medical Biotechnology Research School of Health Polytechnic University of Porto Porto Portugal

Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy Institute of Psychology Faculty of Psychology and Human Movement Science Universität Hamburg Hamburg Germany

Department of Neuroscience University of Turin Turin Italy

Department of Psychiatry The Medical University of Warsaw Warsaw Poland

Department of Psychology Institute of Psychiatry Psychology and Neuroscience King's College London London United Kingdom

Department of Psychology University of Oslo Oslo Norway; Psychology and Neuroscience of Cognition Research Unit University of Liège Liège Belgium

National Institute of Mental Health Klecany Czech Republic

Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu Fundació Sant Joan de Déu Institut de Recerca Sant Joan de Déu Sant Boi de Llobregat Spain; Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental Madrid Spain

Psychiatric Department 424 General Military Hospital of Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Greece; 2nd Department of Psychiatry Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Psychiatric Hospital of Thessaloniki Thessaloniki Greece

Psyliège Psychological Consultation Center Liège Belgium

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