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In a psychosocial treatment study, knowing which participants are likely to put forth adequate effort to maximize their treatment, such as attending group sessions and completing homework assignments, and knowing which participants need additional motivation prior-to engagement in treatment is a crucial component to treatment success. This study examined the ability of the Repeatable Battery for Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) Effort Index (EI), a newly developed measure of suboptimal effort that is embedded within the RBANS, to predict group attendance in a sample of 128 middle-aged and older adults with schizophrenia. This study was the first to evaluate the EI with a schizophrenia sample. While the EI literature recommends a cutoff score of >3 to be considered indicative of poor effort, a cutoff of >4 was identified as the optimal cutoff for this sample. Receiver Operating Characteristics curve analyses were conducted to determine if the EI could predict participants who had high versus low attendance. Results indicated that the EI was successfully able to discriminate between group attendance, and this measure of effort appears to be most valuable as a tool to identify participants who will have high attendance. Interestingly, overall cognitive functioning and symptoms of psychopathology were not predictive of group attendance.

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Although cognitive ability is a known predictor of real-world functioning in schizophrenia, there has been an expanded interest in understanding the mechanisms by which it explains real-world functioning in this population. We examined the extent to which functional capacity (i.e., skills necessary to live independently) mediated the relationship between cognitive ability and both observer and self-reported real-world functioning in 138 outpatients with schizophrenia. Functional capacity significantly mediated the relations between cognitive ability and observer rated real world functioning, but not self-reported real world functioning, with small to medium effect sizes observed for all outcomes. The role of cognitive ability in observer vs. self-reported real-world functioning may be explained by different mechanisms.

In Schizophrenia, low motivation may play a role in the initiation and frequency of functional behaviors. Several reviews support the efficacy of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to predict engagement in various behaviors, but little research has utilized the TPB to explain functional behavior in schizophrenia. This study tested the TPB for predicting prospective engagement in functional behaviors in a sample of 64 individuals with schizophrenia. Participants completed questionnaires assessing their attitudes toward, social norms regarding, perceived behavioral control over, and intention to engage in various functional behaviors during the upcoming week. Follow-up questionnaires assessed engagement in functional behaviors. Zero-order correlations indicated that positive attitudes, social norms, and perceived behavioral control were positively correlated with intentions to engage in functional behaviors. In turn, intentions were positively correlated with engagement in functional behaviors. Using path analysis, social norms and control were significantly related to intentions, which in turn predicted greater engagement in functional behaviors. Results suggest that patients with schizophrenia make reasoned decisions for or against engaging in functional behaviors. Skills training interventions that also target components of the TPB may be effective for increasing motivation to engage in learned behaviors.