Everyday problem-solving linked to schizophrenia symptom severity

05/02/2006
Nathan S Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research and the department of psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine

The US research project, conducted by psychiatrists involved with the programme in cognitive neuroscience and schizophrenia at the Nathan S Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research and the department of psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine, also found that assessing patients using the problem-solving elements of the Independent Living Scales (ILS-PB) might be a useful proxy measure for assessing real-world functioning in schizophrenia.


To investigate the relationship between neurocognitive functioning, clinical symptoms and daily problem-solving skills in people with schizophrenia who were seriously and persistently ill, the researchers administered a battery of tests of attention, working memory, processing speed, perceptual organisation and executive functioning to 38 inpatients and outpatients with schizophrenia.


They also conducted semi-structured clinical interviews using the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale and the Schedule for Assessment of Negative Symptoms and estimated daily problem-solving skills using the relevant factor subscale from the ILS-PB.


In addition to the link between problem-solving and negative symptoms and memory problems, the statistical analysis suggested that working memory and negative symptoms are significant predictors of daily problem-solving skills, accounting for 73.2 per cent of the variance. Moreover, lead researcher Dr Nadine Revheim and her colleagues found significant differences in daily problem-solving skills and negative symptoms between the inpatients and the outpatients