Clarifying pathways to poor psychological health: The mediating role of psychosocial factors in the relationship between general psychopathology and quality of life impairment in patients diagnosed with schizophrenia

Abstract

Objectives The present study examines the latent factor structure of general psychopathology and investigates the mediating role of unmet psychosocial concerns, motivation, and medication side effects in the relationship between general psychopathology and quality of life (QOL) impairment in patients with schizophrenia. Methods A total of 251 patients completed self‐report measures of unmet psychosocial concerns, motivation, medication side effects, and physical/mental QOL impairment. The severity of schizophrenia was assessed on the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale. Results Exploratory factor analysis revealed one latent factor (emotional distress) of general psychopathology. Mediation path analyses controlling for confounding variables revealed significant indirect effects of unmet psychosocial concerns, motivation, and medication side effects on emotional distress and physical/mental QOL impairment. Conclusions Our findings suggest that identifying optimal methods of managing co‐occurring emotional distress as well as secondary psychosocial factors on psychological health may improve QOL among patients diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Depressive symptoms and health-related quality of life in a heterogeneous psychiatric sample: conditional indirect effects of pain severity and interference

“…The negative effects of depressive symptoms on both overarching domains of HRQOL are well documented, accounting for a modest amount (11–33%) of variance of the physical aspect and a large amount of variance (32–52%) of the mental aspect of HRQOL [ 13 , 14 ]. A modest amount of variance shared with HRQOL suggests that there are other unmeasured constructs that may further account for its association through potential underlying pathways [ 15 – 17 ]. While there have been attempts to identify the underlying mechanisms between psychiatric symptoms and psychosocial functioning [ 18 , 19 ], very few attempts have been made to identify clinically relevant mechanisms that are specific to relevant to psychiatric symptoms and both physical and mental aspects of HRQOL among patients with psychiatric disorders.…”