Velocidade de processamento na Esquizofrenia

: avaliação comparativa entre um grupo clínico e de controlo saudável

Abstract

Nowadays, it has become consensual that those who are diagnosed with schizophrenia, demonstrate cognitive perfomance deficit, with repercussions in the psychosocial functioning recovery process (Becker et al., 2010; Nielson, 2001; Pratt, Gill, Barret, & Roberts, 2007).. In order to evaluate these patients’ cognitive performance, and allow us to study the pharmaceutical and psychologic interventions’ efficiency regarding the perfomance improvement at this level, a consensual battery was developed for a neuropsychological assessment for schizophrenia patients - MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB) (Green et al., 2004) - which has already been adapted for 20 countries. The present study rises from an adaptation and validation project for MCCB in Portugal, and aims to describe and understand perfomance diferences between those who have schizophrenia and in healthy controls, regarding one of the levels of the cognitive domains that were evaluated - processing speed. Our sample consists in one clinical group (N=20) and one control group (N=20), on which the processing speed was evaluated through three of the many trials that incorporate MCCB. The results show significant differences between both groups, regarding the overall perfomance in every trial, suggesting the presence of some levels of deficit in the schizophrenia patients who took part of this study.

Date of Award	2015
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Filipa Palha (Supervisor)