Impact of Self-Determined Motivation on Work Behavior and Response to Cognitive Remediation in Individuals with Schizophrenia

Research has implicated motivational deficits as having a severe impact on functional outcomes and quality of life for individuals with schizophrenia. There has been a call for investigation on how these motivational deficits impact different aspects of the therapeutic process for these individuals. A popular model of motivation used in recent investigation with schizophrenia has been Self-Determination Theory. This theory tries to describe why individuals undertake specific goals and behaviors, with the focus being the content of goal-directed outcomes and the regulatory processes with which outcomes are pursued. The goal of this investigation is to examine the impact of self-determined motivation on participation in a cognitive remediation intervention program for a group of individuals with schizophrenia. Results suggest there was some stability for motivation throughout the program. Participants experienced an increase in intrinsic motivation and a decrease in both extrinsic and amotivation during their time in the program. Self-determined motivation had consistent significant positive relationships with aspects of better participant experience and work behavior. Relationships with treatment response were found to be inconsistent. There were significant differences between aspects of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation when it came to elements of participant experience, work behavior, and treatment response with self-determined motivation associated with better performance