Education and Social Support as Mediators of Function and Cognition in Patients with Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia affects an estimated 1% of the population worldwide and the devastating symptoms impact a patient’s daily functioning, social and interpersonal relationships, cognitive abilities, and overall quality of life (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Additionally, patients with schizophrenia can struggle to maintain employment and live independently due to low cognitive ability and functional capacity. Given the pervasive and deleterious impact of schizophrenia, it is imperative to address the functional toll this diagnosis can have on those suffering with the disorder to develop helpful strategies that increase functional capability. The goal of this study is to determine the impact symptom severity has on functional capacity in the presence of education level and perceived social support as mediators, and then, whether cognitive ability impacts functional capacity, and how much of this effect is mediated by perceived social support and level of education. Adults (N = 11) diagnosed with schizophrenia will complete a neuropsychological battery, measures of symptom severity, social support and functional capacity at two medical centers in Southern California. Results: There was no significant relationship between symptoms severity, functional capacity and cognitive ability. Level of education and perceived social support were also not significant mediators of these relationship. Conclusions: Results suggest that symptom severity and cognitive ability are not associated with functional capacity which is not reflective of the available literature. However, unique characteristics of the participants (e.g., low symptom severity, higher level of education and functional capacity) could be impacting the results. Therefore, it is important to conduct additional research to replicate and extend the current findings, to confirm and assess possible reasons why there is no relationship between symptom severity, cognitive ability, and functional capacity and to uncover pathways that do impact an individual’s ability to live independently and increase overall quality of life for those with schizophrenia