DOES INSIGHT AFFECT LONG-TERM INPATIENT TREATMENT OUTCOME IN CHRONIC-SCHIZOPHRENIA

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the degree of ins ight into illness is associated with long-term inpatient treatment out come in chronic schizophrenia, Inpatients diagnosed with schizophrenia were evaluated using the Global Assessment of Functioning Scale (GAF) and the Functional Skills Rating Form (FSRF) at baseline and at follo w-up evaluation 1 year after treatment, The Scale to Assess Unawarenes s of Mental Disorder (SUMD) was used to evaluate insight into illness at follow-up evaluation. Pearson correlation coefficients were used to evaluate the relationship between insight and outcome variables, and multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVAs) were used to assess differ ences in treatment outcome between patients with good versus poor insi ght. The results suggest that a patient's insight is significantly rel ated to global and specific measures of functional outcome. Moreover, patients with good insight showed better improvement after long-term i npatient treatment. These findings both support and expand on previous research indicating that increased insight into illness is associated with better treatment compliance and outcome. We propose that further research is necessary to specify the etiology of insight and to devel op new interventions focused on increasing insight into illness. Copyr ight (C) 1997 by W.B. Saunders Company.