TY - JOUR
T1 - Longitudinal associations between negative symptoms and social functioning in schizophrenia
T2 - The moderating role of employment status and setting
AU - Weinberg, Dafna
AU - Shahar, Golan
AU - Davidson, Larry
AU - McGlashan, Thomas H.
AU - Fennig, Shmuel
N1 - Funding Information:
Dafna Weinberg, MA, is affiliated with the Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel. Golan Shahar, PhD, is the director of the Risk/Resilience Lab, Department of Psychology, at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and is affiliated with the Department of Psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut. Larry Davidson, PhD, and Thomas H. McGlashan, MD, are also affiliated with the the Department of Psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine. Shmuel Fennig, MD, is with the Shalvata Mental Health Center in Hod Hashron, Israel. This study was funded by a National Alliance for Research in Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD) Young Investigator Award to Golan Shahar. Larry Davidson and Thomas H. NcGlashan served as mentors for this Young Investigator Award. The NARSAD had no further role in study design; in collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the paper for publication. We would like to thank Mrs. Yael Shanni, Mrs. Zehava Morri, Mrs. Rivka Gabsso, and Mrs. Miri Moran and all the professional staff in the outpatient clinic of Shalvata Mental Health Center for their enormous and generous contribution to the long and at times exhausting process of recruiting participants and data collection. Address correspondence to Dafna Weinberg or Golan Shahar, The Risk/Resilience Lab (Golan Shahar, Director), Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva 84105, Israel; E-mail: Dafna.weinberg@ gmail.com or [email protected].
PY - 2009/12/1
Y1 - 2009/12/1
N2 - While research has demonstrated strong relationships between negative symptoms and social difficulties in schizophrenia, little is known about the possible role of employment status and setting in this relationship. Seventy-seven participants with a diagnosis of schizophrenia spectrum disorder, who were either unemployed (n = 34), employed within a specialty mental health setting (n = 23), or employed within a community setting (n = 20) were assessed twice, six weeks apart, as to their negative symptoms and social functioning. Work in community settings generally predicted an increase in the levels of social functioning over time. However, individuals with high levels of negative symptoms who were employed in community settings evinced substantial decline in social functioning over time compared to unemployment or to employment in specialty mental health settings. These results are consistent with action models of psychopathology and encourage heightened sensitivity to individual symptomatic profiles in the course of vocational rehabilitation.
AB - While research has demonstrated strong relationships between negative symptoms and social difficulties in schizophrenia, little is known about the possible role of employment status and setting in this relationship. Seventy-seven participants with a diagnosis of schizophrenia spectrum disorder, who were either unemployed (n = 34), employed within a specialty mental health setting (n = 23), or employed within a community setting (n = 20) were assessed twice, six weeks apart, as to their negative symptoms and social functioning. Work in community settings generally predicted an increase in the levels of social functioning over time. However, individuals with high levels of negative symptoms who were employed in community settings evinced substantial decline in social functioning over time compared to unemployment or to employment in specialty mental health settings. These results are consistent with action models of psychopathology and encourage heightened sensitivity to individual symptomatic profiles in the course of vocational rehabilitation.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=75749144324&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1521/psyc.2009.72.4.370
DO - 10.1521/psyc.2009.72.4.370
M3 - Article
C2 - 20070135
AN - SCOPUS:75749144324
SN - 0033-2747
VL - 72
SP - 370
EP - 381
JO - Psychiatry (New York)
JF - Psychiatry (New York)
IS - 4
ER -