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The relationships of personal resources with symptom severity and psychosocial functioning in persons with schizophrenia: results from the Italian Network for Research on Psychoses study

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Abstract

The relationships of personal resources with symptom severity and psychosocial functioning have never been tested systematically in a large sample of people with schizophrenia. We applied structural equation models to a sample of 921 patients with schizophrenia collected in a nationwide Italian study, with the aim to identify, among a large set of personal resources, those that may have an association with symptom severity or psychosocial functioning. Several relevant demographic and clinical variables were considered concurrently. Poor service engagement and poor recovery style, as well as older age and younger age at onset, were related to greater symptom severity and poorer social functioning. Higher resilience and higher education were related to better social functioning only. Poor problem-focused coping and internalized stigma, as well as male gender and depression, were related to symptom severity only. The explored variables showed distinctive and partially independent associations with symptom severity and psychosocial functioning. A deeper understanding of these relationships may inform treatment decisions.

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Acknowledgments

The study was funded by the Italian Ministry of Education, the Italian Society of Psychopathology (SOPSI), the Italian Society of Biological Psychiatry (SIPB), Roche, Lilly, AstraZeneca, Lundbeck and Bristol-Myers Squibb. The members of the Italian Network for Research on Psychoses are mentioned below: Members of the Italian Network for Research on Psychoses who participated in this study include: Marina Mancini, Maria Antonietta Nettis, Giuseppe Rizzo (University of Bari); Stefano Porcelli (University of Bologna); Giacomo Deste, Alessandro Galluzzo, Luca Gheda (University of Brescia); Bernardo Carpiniello, Alice Ghiani, Alice Lai (University of Cagliari); Dario Cannavò, Giuseppe Minutolo, Maria Salvina Signorelli (University of Catania); Tiziano Acciavatti, Marco Alessandrini, Federica Vellante (University of Chieti); Andrea Cantisani (University of Florence); Mario Altamura, Flavia A. Padalino, Tiziana Pagano (University of Foggia); Martino Belvedere Murri, Pietro Calcagno, Alessandro Corso (University of Genoa); Simona D’Onofrio,Carmela Marucci, Valeria Santarelli (University of L’Aquila – DISCAB); Valeria Bianchini, Laura Giusti, Maurizio Malavolta (University of L’Aquila- MESVA); Paola Bucci, Marcello Chieffi, Stefania De Simone, Eleonora Merlotti, Mariangela Rocco, Annarita Vignapiano (University of Naples SUN); Carmine Tomasetti (University of Naples Federico II); Alessandro Feggi, Eleonora Gattoni, Carla Gramaglia (University of Eastern Piedmont, Novara); Carla Cremonese, Enrico Collantoni, Davide Gallicchio (University of Padua); Chiara De Panfilis, Paolo Ossola, Matteo Tonna (University of Parma); Claudia Carmassi, Camilla Gesi, Grazia Rutigliano (University of Pisa); Roberto Brugnoli, Valentina Corigliano, Antonella De Carolis, Fabio Di Fabio, Alessia Mirigliani, Maria Chiara Torti (Sapienza University of Rome); Giorgio Di Lorenzo, Alberto Siracusano, Alfonso Troisi (Tor Vergata University of Rome); Luca Bartoli, Giulio Corrivetti, Ferdinando Diasco (Department of Mental Health, Salerno); Simone Bolognesi, Elisa Borghini, Arianna Goracci (University of Siena); Tiziana Frieri, Cinzia Mingrone, Monica Sigaudo (University of Turin).

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Rossi, A., Galderisi, S., Rocca, P. et al. The relationships of personal resources with symptom severity and psychosocial functioning in persons with schizophrenia: results from the Italian Network for Research on Psychoses study. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 267, 285–294 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-016-0710-9

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