Factors associated with occupational and academic status in patients with first-episode psychosis with a particular focus on neurocognition

Purpose Employment rates for patients with chronic schizophrenia and first-episode psychosis (FEP) are low despite a larger variation in reported rates for FEP patients. This could partly be due to various methodologies used. The association between neurocognition and occupational functioning is well known in patients with chronic schizophrenia, while corresponding FEP studies are scarce and results more ambiguous. The current study investigated employment rates in a FEP sample using a threefold division of activity that separated students from employed and unemployed patients. Further, it investigated the relationship between students, employed and unemployed patients and clinical, neurocognitive, global, and social functioning. Methods A total of 128 FEP patients with a broad DSM-IV schizophrenia spectrum disorder were assessed with clinical, neurocognitive, and global and social functioning measures. Three groups were defined based on occupational and academic status. Results Twenty-six percent of the patients were employed, and 23% were students. The students and the employed patients performed better than the unemployed patients on clinical and global and social functioning measures. There were no differences between employed patients and students on any of the investigated measures, although there was a non-significant trend for the students to show better working memory capacity compared to the other two groups. Conclusions Students and employed patients showed better clinical, global and social functioning compared with unemployed patients. There were no significant differences between the three groups on neurocognitive measures. The results pose an argument for grouping the students with the employed patients if a dichotomous variable is preferred.