Resilience, Sense of Coherence, and Coping with Stress as Predictors of Psychological Well-Being in the Course of Schizophrenia. The Study Design

Abstract

The main research objective was seeking for the predictive role of such personal resources as resilience, sense of coherence, and coping with stress in psychological well-being of schizophrenia patients and their treatment. The study group comprised 201 individuals with schizophrenia, aged between 18 and 62. The following instruments were used: The sense of coherence scale SOC-29, The resilience scale for adults, polish adaptation of the stress appraisal measure, semistructured clinical interview, the positive and negative syndrome scale, the mood scale, and the general health questionnaire. A stepwise regression analysis aimed at selecting a group of significant predictors for the verified factors of psychological well-being in patients suffering from schizophrenia was carried out. The results of the study demonstrated the following to be significant predictors of psychological well-being in patients with schizophrenia: Resilience (explaining significantly the level of schizophrenic symptomatology Beta = −0.30, negative symptoms Beta = −0.385, and cognitive disorders Beta = −0.303), sense of coherence, which significantly predicted mood (in the case of manageability, Beta = 0.580 for positive mood, and Beta = 0.534 for negative mood) and psychiatric symptomatology (comprehensibility, Beta = 0.311 for negative symptoms, Beta = 0.173 for excessive arousal, and Beta = 0.330 for cognitive disorganization). The level of perceived stress appraised as challenge predicted positive mood (Beta = 0.164), while stress appraisal in terms of threat served as a predictor for negative mood and depressiveness (Beta = 0.190). The study results can prove helpful in creating therapeutic and programs and psychiatric rehabilitation for patients with schizophrenia.

Functioning and Happiness in People with Schizophrenia: Analyzing the Role of Cognitive Impairment

“…However, in schizophrenia patients with cognitive impairment, there was no significant relationship observed between subjective happiness and level of functioning. This result is consistent with Izydorczyk and colleagues [ 14 ], who found an association between psychological well-being and cognitive disorganization.…”

“…For example, Palmer et al [ 4 ] found lower levels of happiness in patients diagnosed with schizophrenia compared to healthy controls, while Agid et al [ 11 ] observed no difference in the level of happiness between these two groups. Another methodological concern is that previous work investigating happiness and related factors in patients with schizophrenia did not include a control group [ 12 , 14 ]. The lack of consensus as to what constitutes happiness as a construct is another source of concern.…”

“…Both happiness and psychological well-being are correlated with overall patient functioning (as well as community and occupational functioning), but this relationship is complex and is shown to be influenced by several variables such as general and social cognition [ 17 , 18 ], higher perceived stress [ 14 ], and lower levels of resilience [ 4 ]. Interestingly, there is some research that suggests schizophrenia patients with poor functioning have higher levels of happiness and satisfaction with life compared to individuals without a psychiatric diagnosis [ 13 ].…”

“…Recent studies suggest that the key factors associated with lower levels of psychological well-being in patients with schizophrenia are depressive symptoms, motivational deficits [ 2 , 11 , 13 , 14 ], and cognitive disorganization [ 14 ]. A recent review found that deficits in well-being in schizophrenia are present prior to the onset of the first episode of psychosis and hypothesized that lower well-being is a risk factor for both the onset of psychosis and poorer functional outcomes [ 19 ].…”

Quality of life and its social determinants for patients with schizophrenia and family caregivers in Cambodia

“…The scores for resilience and autonomy, and the total score were negatively correlated with the severity of negative symptoms. These results were in accordance with previous studies [57][58][59][60][61][62]. Although it had a two-factor structure, unlike the original version [52], we suggest that the index (total score) is valid for use with Cambodian patients with schizophrenia to evaluate their overall degree of QoL.…”