Cognitive impairment is a core feature of schizophrenia, and has been found to be associated with an individual's ability to function independently in the community. This thesis will being by reviewing the existing literature in this area. This will cover general features of the cognitive impairment that is associated with schizophrenia, as well as the three-way relationship between cognitive impairment, ability to function in the community and psychotic symptomatology. Because of the role that cognitive deficits have been found to play in determining an individuals functional outcome, it will be argued that these deficits need to be routinely assessed for all patients with schizophrenia. The empirical paper describes a study that involved looking at the relationship between performance on a brief measure of cognitive functioning, the Brief Cognitive Assessment (BCA) (Velligan et al., 2004), and ability to function in the community in a sample of patients with schizophrenia. The use of the BCA as a measure of cognitive impairment in this population was explored, and contributions of both symptoms and cognitive deficits to functional outcome were investigated. In the final part of this thesis, the critical review, the importance of routine cognitive assessment for individuals with schizophrenia will be restated, based on the findings of the literature review and the empirical study. This section will include a personal reflection on the experience of both the research process and the use of the BCA with this population, and a summary of the strengths and weakness of this measure.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:634541 |
| Date | January 2005 |
| Creators | Crockett, J. |
| Publisher | University College London (University of London) |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1444590/ |
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