Cognitive Functions and Medication Compliance in relation to Quality of Life in Persons with Schizophrenia

Background: Findings of different studies on the relationship between cognitive functions, medical compliance and quality of life in persons with schizophrenia are still contradictory and unclear. Aim: The present study aimed to examine the impact and relationship of cognitive functions and medical compliance on the quality of life in persons with Schizophrenia. Research Design: Single group cross-sectional design was used. Incidental purposive sampling method was employed to select the sample. Methods and Materials: 20 persons with schizophrenia were selected from the outpatient department of Psychiatry, Government Medical College & Hospital, Chandigarh as per the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Participants were administered various neuropsychological tests to assess the cognitive functions, Medication Adherence scale to assess the Medication Compliance and Quality of life scale for assessing Quality of life. Statistical analysis: Mean, Frequency, Pearson ‘r’ and Linear Regression were used to analyze the data. Results: Significant deficits were found in cognitive functions in all the participants. Around 75% of the participants were compliant to medication. Significant correlations were found among different domains of Cognitive Functions, Medication Compliance and Quality of Life It was also found that all the 20 participants had poor quality of life. Medication compliance, DVT, LMT (IR-DR) and visual working memory were found to be significant predictors of QoL. Conclusions: A clear link between cognitive functions, medication compliance and QoL is found in the present study.