Abstract
Background: The concept of recovery in schizophrenia has been reformed to include, in addition to symptom remission, social function, role functioning and daily functioning. Persons who have recovered from schizophrenia have published accounts of what has been important for them in their way to recovery. The perceiving of and dynamic interaction with situations, relations and self has been found to be important in a recovery process that enables hopes for a future that is valuable. These relations are integrated in the concept of resilience, which is defined as a positive outcome in psychological wellbeing despite the adversity of schizophrenia. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate whether there is a statistically significant relationship between degrees of resilience and symptom remission. The conceptualisation of resilience as both a trait and a process in schizophrenia is addressed. An additional aim is to find out if degrees of resilience are predictive for symptom remission in schizophrenia. Relations that foster symptom remission are important to investigate, as it is estimated that one per cent of the population have a diagnosis within the schizophrenia spectrum, and life courses involving schizophrenia are found to involve diverse adversities. Methods: Measures of perceived resilience, hope and perceived self-efficacy were administered by the principal researcher to a group of 28 young adults with a recent debut of schizophrenia over a period of two years. Ratings of positive and negative symptoms were assessed by the principal researcher according to the Positive and Negative Symptoms Scale during the first year and at 2-year follow-up. Results: Significant results on the relationship between resilience and symptom remission were found. Significant and non-significant results on correlations between different assessments of resilience found resilience to be conceptualised as both traits and processes. Investigation of predictive value of resilience on symptom remission found that high levels of experienced resilience are more than 13 times as likely to predict symptom remission at 2-year follow-up. Conclusions: Despite the low number of participants in this study, statistically significant results between resilience and symptom remission were found. Experienced resilience is found to be conceptualised as traits and processes. It is demonstrated that high degrees of resilience are predictive for symptom remission. These results suggest that focusing on experienced resilience in treatment can promote symptom remission.
Background: The concept of recovery in schizophrenia has been reformed to include, in addition to symptom remission, social function, role functioning and daily functioning. Persons who have recovered from schizophrenia have published accounts of what has been important for them in their way to recovery. The perceiving of and dynamic interaction with situations, relations and self has been found to be important in a recovery process that enables hopes for a future that is valuable. These relations are integrated in the concept of resilience, which is defined as a positive outcome in psychological wellbeing despite the adversity of schizophrenia. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate whether there is a statistically significant relationship between degrees of resilience and symptom remission. The conceptualisation of resilience as both a trait and a process in schizophrenia is addressed. An additional aim is to find out if degrees of resilience are predictive for symptom remission in schizophrenia. Relations that foster symptom remission are important to investigate, as it is estimated that one per cent of the population have a diagnosis within the schizophrenia spectrum, and life courses involving schizophrenia are found to involve diverse adversities. Methods: Measures of perceived resilience, hope and perceived self-efficacy were administered by the principal researcher to a group of 28 young adults with a recent debut of schizophrenia over a period of two years. Ratings of positive and negative symptoms were assessed by the principal researcher according to the Positive and Negative Symptoms Scale during the first year and at 2-year follow-up. Results: Significant results on the relationship between resilience and symptom remission were found. Significant and non-significant results on correlations between different assessments of resilience found resilience to be conceptualised as both traits and processes. Investigation of predictive value of resilience on symptom remission found that high levels of experienced resilience are more than 13 times as likely to predict symptom remission at 2-year follow-up. Conclusions: Despite the low number of participants in this study, statistically significant results between resilience and symptom remission were found. Experienced resilience is found to be conceptualised as traits and processes. It is demonstrated that high degrees of resilience are predictive for symptom remission. These results suggest that focusing on experienced resilience in treatment can promote symptom remission.