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Subjective perceptions of cognitive deficits and their influences on quality of life among patients with schizophrenia

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Abstract

Purpose

Functional outcomes in schizophrenia may be more closely related to social cognition than to neurocognition; however, the extent to which social cognition influences quality of life (QoL) remains unclear. We conducted a cross-sectional survey study of the impact of patients’ and clinicians’ subjective perceptions of neurocognitive and social cognitive deficits on quality of life.

Methods

The study included 253 patients with schizophrenia and their clinicians from public mental health clinics in Bolivia, Chile, and Peru. We utilized the GEOPTE Scale of Social Cognition for Psychosis, the Schizophrenia Quality of Life Questionnaire, and the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale for schizophrenia.

Results

Patients’ subjective perceptions of their neurocognitive deficits (B = −1.13; CI −1.56 to −0.70) were significantly associated with QoL, whereas there was no independent association between the clinicians’ ratings of the patients’ neurocognitive deficits and QoL (B = −0.33; CI −0.98 to 0.31). However, patients’ subjective perceptions of their neurocognitive deficits were no longer associated with QoL (B = −0.23; CI −0.71 to 0.24) once their perceptions of social cognitive impairments were accounted for (B = −1.03; CI −1.39 to −0.68).

Conclusion

Patients’ perceptions of their social cognitive function (but not neurocognitive functioning) have a significant impact on their QoL. Clinicians’ ratings of patients’ cognitive deficits were only weakly correlated with patients’ subjective perceptions of their own neurocognitive, suggesting a mismatch between clinician and patient assessments of such deficits. Closer attention should therefore be paid toward patients’ perception of their own deficits by clinicians in order to improve QoL.

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by CONICYT and BECAS-CHILE Postdoctorado en el Extranjero (Number 74140004) and also by the Convenio de Desempeño UTA-MINEDUC. We thank Felipe Ponce and Jorge Escudero for their assistance in the study and also the following people and facilities: Dr. Hugo Sánchez, Dr. Ricardo Alvites, Dr. Andrés Collado, Gladys Coaquira, and Vilma Liendo; and we extend our special thanks to Dr. José Revilla from Hipólito Unanue Hospital in Tacna, Perú, Dr. Marcio Soto from Arequipa, Perú, Dr. Fernando Garitano, Dr. Mauricio Peredo, and Dra. Mabel Romero from Centro de Rehabilitación y Salud Mental San Juan de Dios, and the Director of Hospital Psiquiátrico de la Caja Nacional de Salud from La Paz, Bolivia. We also thank Dra. Magdalena Gardilcic, Ester López, and Alejandra Lagos from Servicio de Salud de Arica, Chile, and extend our special thanks to all the patients and caregivers who participated in this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Filosofía y Psicología, Universidad de Tarapacá, Avenida 18 de Septiembre 2222, Arica, Chile

    Alejandra Caqueo-Urízar

  2. Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA, 02115-6018, USA

    Alejandra Caqueo-Urízar & Stephen E. Gilman

  3. EA 3279 – Public Health, Chronic Diseases and Quality of Life – Research Unit, Aix-Marseille University, 13005, Marseille, France

    Laurent Boyer & Karine Baumstarck

  4. Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA, 02115-6018, USA

    Stephen E. Gilman

  5. Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, 55 Fruit Street, Boston, MA, 02114, USA

    Stephen E. Gilman

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  1. Alejandra Caqueo-Urízar
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  2. Laurent Boyer
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  3. Karine Baumstarck
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Correspondence to Alejandra Caqueo-Urízar.

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Caqueo-Urízar, A., Boyer, L., Baumstarck, K. et al. Subjective perceptions of cognitive deficits and their influences on quality of life among patients with schizophrenia. Qual Life Res 24, 2753–2760 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-015-1019-2

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