Purpose of the Study

The study was  conducted in order to come up with an attempt to formulate a  Quality of Life (QoL) model in the chronic and severe stage of schizophrenia through the inclusion of key variables which are insight into treatment, self stigma, medication compliance and cognitive insight and test the relationship between these variables (Lien et al., 2018). The structural equation model (SEM) was the method used to conduct the test

Research questions

• What is cognitive insight?
• Does cognitive insight have a significant, positive and direct effect on self-stigma?
• What is the relationship between the variables used in formulating the QoL model in the severe schizophrenia stages?
• What are the adverse and direct effects of cognitive insight on self-stigma?
• What is self-reflection? How does the inability to be reflective on ones mental state affect the individual?

Hypotheses

The relationship existing between QoL and cognitive insight varies basing of the level difference of, i.e. the detrimental relationship existing between QoL and cognitive insight is more evident in patients exhibiting high self-stigma levels than in the ones with relatively low self-stigma levels. There is a direct relationship between higher cognitive insights and higher self-stigma (Lien et al., 2018). There is also a direct relationship between higher cognitive insights and adequate compliance as well as higher treatment insights.

Aims of the study.

The Study aimed at proposing a more complex investigation model in showing the relationship between impaired Quality of Life (QoL) and predictors by the use of a common framework. (Lien et al., 2018). The study also aimed at testing a model of recovery that suggests people with schizophrenia have an affected perception of the QoL brought about by self-stigmatization, cognitive insight, and medical compliance

Study design

The study was conducted on 170 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia. The participants who had not attained the age of 18, as well as older ones above the age of 65, were removed from the study. The ones with neurological diseases and brain trauma histories were also excluded from the study. Participants who showed symptoms of drug abuse with a dependence on them within twelve months were excluded, with the moral approval obtained from the board of international review (Lien et al., 2018). The participants were required to show an informed consent written manually.

Sample.

The samples used for the study were the 170 participants with a majority of them being the unmarried and the unemployed as the sample characteristic. Sampling techniques such as standard deviation used to show the distribution of participants from the mean and the computation of range were used in determining the age difference (Lien et al., 2018). The sample size was 170 people between the ages of 18- 65 with the average patient age being 44.5 years.

Variables

The mean age of onset of the illness was 26 years with a standard deviation of about 7.3 years, and the sample analysis was in a range of ages between 19 and 65. The mean duration of illness of the disease was 17.8 years in a sample conducted on individuals ranging from 2 to 45 years and the standard deviation of about 10 (Lien et al., 2018). All the participants were consuming prescribed psychiatric drugs.

Statistical analysis

SPSS 15.0 was used to conduct the correlation and statistical analyses. Path analysis by the use of the statistical equation model was used to examine the assumed relations between stigma, psychological outcome variables, and insight (Lien et al., 2018). An examination on the normality statistical analysis model was conducted using Mardia’s test to survey multivariate measures of kurtosis and skewness.

The validity of the results

The results obtained proved to be valid in the estimation of high stigma levels. It also made a confirmation on the findings conducted from other previous researches in the relationship between quality of life and self-reflection.

Results of the study

There was a higher mean value on both insight scores, but lower mean compliance and subjective quality of life scores among the patients with high stigma levels. There was no significant correlation between the positive and negative symptoms from the patients and the variables used. These variables were therefore not treated as control variables since they were not put in the SEM (Lien et al., 2018). The severe effects cognitive insight had on the quality of life was found to be invariant in both high and low stigma levels.

The results obtained will help me in treating families and patients with schizophrenia because the cognitive therapy designed to reduce negative insight implications and do away with stigma induced stress may come in handy in improving their quality of life

References

Lien, Y. J., Chang, H. A., Kao, Y. C., Tzeng, N. S., Lu, C. W., & Loh, C. H. (2018). The impact of cognitive insight, self-stigma, and medication compliance on the quality of life in patients with schizophrenia. European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience, 268(1), 27-38.