Objectives: Although the relationship of obsessive compulsive symptoms
(OCSs) with both cognition and social functioning (SF) has already been
the focus of research in schizophrenia, the moderation of the
relationship of OCSs with SF by cognition has not been explored to date.
We investigated the association of OCSs with SF and its interaction with
cognition in schizophrenia.
Methods: We recruited 110 schizophrenia patients and assessed OCSs
(Yale-Brown Scale), schizophrenia symptoms (Positive and Negative
Syndrome Scale), SF (Strauss-Carpenter Scale) and cognition. 51 patients
had one obsessive compulsive symptom or more, whereas 59 patients had no
obsessive compulsive-symptom, according to the Yale-Brown Scale. We
mainly investigated: a) the predictive effect of OCSs on SF, controlling
for cognition, illness duration and symptoms' severity and b) the
moderating effect of cognition on the OCSs-SF relationship.
Results: The mean score of OCSs for patients having at least one symptom
was 13.43 (SD = 8.32). Higher OCSs predicted increased SF (B = 0.98, t =
2.41, df = 88, p = 0.018). This relationship was driven by the
association of compulsions with job functioning (B = 0.074, t = 2.029,
df = 88, p = 0.046). Patients without OCSs demonstrated worse
functioning compared with those having at least one obsessive compulsive
symptom (mean difference = 2.496, t = 3.732, df = 88, p < 0.001). We
failed to find evidence that cognition moderates the effect of OCSs on
SF.
Conclusion: There may be a beneficial effect of OCSs on SF in patients
with schizophrenia which is independent of their cognitive performance.
(C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved
