Predicting functional ability in older people with schizophrenia is a complex task

Research has suggested that executive functioning, theory of mind, and negative symptoms are all useful predictors of functional ability in people with schizophrenia. Most of this evidence though comes from studies using younger people with schizophrenia or non-psychotic older adults. Since schizophrenia is a chronic illness, understanding what predicts functional ability in older people with disorder is also important to know. Thus the aim of this study was to investigate whether executive functioning and theory of mind were useful predictors of functional ability in older people with schizophrenia, and if so, whether the severity of negatives symptoms mediated these two relationships. In order to assess these hypotheses, three tests of executive functioning, a series of cartoon sequences measuring theory of mind, and other tests, measuring depression, anxiety, cognitive decline and premorbid IQ, were administered to a sample of 6 participants, aged between 67 and 89 years, who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder or delusional disorder. Measures of functional ability and symptoms of schizophrenia were rated by case managers who knew the participants well. As few participants were recruited, the predicted hypotheses were not able to be formally tested. However, through the examination of the raw scores and simple bivariate scatter-plots and correlations, the data appeared to indicate that there may be a relationship between executive functioning and functional ability, theory of mind and functional ability, and executive functioning and theory of mind in this group of participants. There was no evidence though that negative symptoms had a relationship with any variable of interest. The difficulties of obtaining valid data in this group of people, strengths and limitation of the study, and future directions were discussed