Clinical Review ArticleSocial Functioning Among Older Community-Dwelling Patients With Schizophrenia: A Review
Section snippets
METHODS
The online database PubMed was searched on May 15, 2009, for potentially relevant English, German, French, and Dutch publications. The search had no date limits. Both controlled (MeSH) and free search terms were used and placed in three categories. The first category enclosed terms for schizophrenia and related disorders (schizophrenia, psychotic disorders, paranoid disorders, schizophrenic psychology, and schizophreni*). The second category enclosed terms for older age (aged, age of onset, age
RESULTS
Five longitudinal studies on social outcomes were identified. All other studies had a cross-sectional design: 10 studies on social outcomes, 8 studies on social support, and 13 studies on social skills. In the next part, we consider these studies in detail.
DISCUSSION
Social functioning is widely regarded as one of the most relevant domains in schizophrenia, both from the perspective of patients, significant others, and society as a whole. Given the substantial and rapidly growing number of older people with schizophrenia, the importance of paying attention to their social vicissitudes is self-evident. This review demonstrates the scarcity and limitations of the existing literature relevant to this topic. The total number of studies qualifying for this
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Cited by (40)
Social Networks of Older Schizophrenia Patients: Fit for Later Life?
2022, American Journal of Geriatric PsychiatrySchizophrenia in Older Adults
2022, Comprehensive Clinical Psychology, Second EditionAdvances in the Conceptualization and Study of Schizophrenia in Later Life: 2020 Update
2020, Clinics in Geriatric MedicineCitation Excerpt :In a longitudinal study, the persons with schizophrenia using the same sample,23 39% remained in the low community integration group at both points in time, 26% were in the high community integration group at both assessments, and 36% of persons fluctuated between high and low community integration. Thus, although most older people with schizophrenia have diminished social functioning versus their healthy age peers, there is considerable heterogeneity, ranging from severely incapacitated functioning and socially isolated individuals to near-normal functioning and socially integrated persons24; there are opportunities for improvement but also risks for decline. Our group's analysis of data derived from the New York City sample described previously,16,20,22,23 indicated that 26% of persons attained concurrent clinical remission and high community integration at baseline; ie, “clinical recovery”.
Advances in the Conceptualization and Study of Schizophrenia in Later Life
2018, Psychiatric Clinics of North AmericaCitation Excerpt :In the New York City sample described previously, 28% moved between high and low categories on follow-up, whereas 32% and 40% of the sample were in the high and low QOL categories, respectively, at both points in time.64 A review by Meesters and colleagues24 concluded, “The majority of older schizophrenic patients are well behind their healthy age peers with respect to various aspects of social functioning such as social roles, social support, and social skills.” At the same time considerable heterogeneity among patients can be found, and cognitive functioning had a major impact on social functioning, outweighing clinical symptoms.
The authors thank Ingrid I. Riphagen, Medical Librarian, for her assistance in the search process for this review.