The purpose of this research was to analyze the effectiveness of psychotherapy for individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia spectrum disorders who reside in community residential settings. The present body of literature did not address the utility of psychotherapy treatment for this population. A key area of focus for this research was whether psychotherapy has an impact on psychiatric hospitalization rates for the target population. An additional research question was whether significant differences exist in psychiatric hospitalization rates between males and females for the target population. Data analyses were conducted using archival data from the Blossom Hill Corporation and Sunrise Farm Corporation in the State of Minnesota. Research questions were analyzed with a 2x2 factorial analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results indicated no significant differences in hospitalization rates for individuals in the target population who received psychotherapy (n = 60) compared to those who did not (n = 76). Hospitalization rates also did not differ between gender in psychotherapy treatment response for individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia spectrum disorders in community residential settings. This study has implications for social change because it informs community residential providers in Minnesota serving individuals in the target population about the impact of psychotherapy on reducing psychiatric hospitalizations. Social change is further affected by providing data about how psychotherapy and theory can be used to better treat and understand the target population's mental health stability.

Les troubles schizophréniques et les troubles du spectre autistique (TSA) ont en commun des troubles de la communication, des interactions sociales, des affects et des émotions. Dans le domaine de la cognition sociale, ces similitudes suscitent des questions sur la similarité ou les différences des processus neurocognitifs sous-jacents. Cependant, à l’heure actuelle, très peu d’études expérimentales comparent directement les personnes avec un trouble schizophrénique et les personnes avec un TSA dans les différents domaines de la cognition. Dans cette thèse, ces questions seront abordées à travers 3 domaines : le profil cognitif (évaluation du fonctionnement cognitif général et analyse qualitative de la fluence verbale), le domaine du langage pragmatique : (compréhension du langage figuré en contexte et des métaphores) et le domaine de la cognition sociale (reconnaissance des émotions faciales et style d’attribution). Ainsi, il sera examiné, si les similitudes apparentes entre les troubles schizophréniques et les TSA à ces différents domaines se matérialisent par des performances similaires et si des comportements et des performances similaires résultent de mécanismes neurocognitifs communs, différents, ou diamétralement opposés. Nos résultats ont montré que malgré des similitudes apparentes, le fonctionnement neurocognitif observé dans les troubles du spectre schizophrénique et autistique se caractérise par des différences qualitatives importantes que nous discutons dans le contexte de la littérature internationale et des perspectives cliniques de ces recherches. / Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders and Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) have similar difficulties in communication, social interaction, affects and emotions. These apparent similarities raise the question whether similar or different neurocognitive processes might underlie similar symptoms and cognitive profiles. However, currently, very few experimental studies directly compare individuals with autism and schizophrenia in different cognition areas.The major aim of the present Doctoral Dissertation was to address these issues by exploring three areas: cognitive profile (the assessment of general cognitive functioning and the quantitative and the qualitative analysis of verbal fluency), pragmatic language (idiom comprehension in context and novels metaphors’ comprehension) and social cognition (facial affect recognition and attributional style). In each of these areas, the major results showed that despite apparent cognitive similarities, neurocognitive functioning observed in patients with schizophrenic disorders and autism were characterized by significant qualitative differences that were examined and discussed in the context of the international literature and in relation to the possible clinical perspectives.