The participants are administered a questionnaire assessing domains of activities in daily living, using the Functioning Assessment Short Test (FAST) (56, 57). The FAST scale consists of 24 items and has been developed for the clinical evaluation of the main difficulties in daily functioning presented by psychiatric patients, particularly, bipolar disorder patients. It is easy to apply, requires only a short period of time for administration, and is available in several languages. The items are rated 0 (no impairment), 1 (mild impairment), 2 (moderate impairment), or 3 (severe impairment). The overall FAST scores range from 0 to 72, where higher scores indicate greater disability, with scores above 11 indicating the presence of significant disability. The FAST derives individual scores for various domains of function, including a global score of functioning and the domains of autonomy, occupation, cognition, finances, relationship, and leisure. The time frame for evaluation of functioning is the last 14 days.
