The MOVES: A Self-Rating Scale for Tourette's Syndrome

A self-report scale for the symptoms of Tourette's syndrome was designed to be quickly and easily completed by children, adolescents, or adults. The Motor tic, Obsessions and compulsions, Vocal tic Evaluation Survey (MOVES) generates scores on five subscales: Motor Tics, Vocal Tics, Obsessions, Compulsions, and Associated Symptoms (echolalia, echopraxia, coprolalia, copropraxia). Subscales scores can be combined to form a Tic Subscale or an Obsessive-Compulsive Subscale. A sample of patients with Tourette's syndrome (n = 30) scored significantly higher on the Total Scale and in all Subscales, in comparison with nonreferred community controls (n = 26) and psychiatric controls (n = 23).

The MOVES subscales correlated significantly (Pearson = 0.6-0.8) with independent examiner-rated scales, including the Yale Tourette's Syndrome Global Severity Scale, Shapiro Tourette Clinical Rating Scale, and two scales for obsessive and compulsive symptoms (Assessor, Beaumont). The MOVES appeared sensitive to clinical change, and might provide useful diagnostic separation of Tourette's syndrome patients from psychiatric and normal controls. The MOVES exhibited good sensitivity (87%) and specificity (94%) for diagnosis, and both positive and negative predictive values were satisfactory (≥90%). The MOVES took approximately 1-5 minutes to complete, depending on the age of the respondent. If the validity of this instrument can be demonstrated for use by specific age groups (adolescents and children), clinicians and researchers may find the MOVES helpful in documenting patients' subjective impressions of their symptoms of tic disorders.