Brain structure, prodromal symptoms and neurocognitive impairment in subject at high-risk of developing schizophrenia

Conducted in collaboration with National Neuroscience Institute (NNI), this project looks at brain abnormalities of non-psychotic first-degree relatives of schizophrenia patients. We will examine the hippocampal volume in minimally treated patients with first-episode psychosis compared to controls and correlate hippocampal volume and clinical data. To date, we have successfully obtained brain volumetric scans of 15 patients, 11 relatives and 6 controls for this project on a clinical 3 tesla MR system.

Parietal lobe structural and white matter abnormalities in schizophrenia with passivity phenomenon

This study seeks to examine the relationship between clinical psychopathology in schizophrenia and parietal lobe abnormalities which are postulated to underlie this clinical phenomenon. The subjects will be administered neuropsychological tests related to parietal lobe and connected functions as well as undergo structural magnetic resonance and diffusion tensor imaging procedures.

The study will help to enhance our understanding of the neural substrates underlying patients with schizophrenia and the passivity phenomenon, with the potential to allow us to track these changes over time and with treatment in the future. Furthermore, structural parietal lobe abnormalities and related connectivity disturbances in the form of white matter changes may potentially serve as endophenotypes and trait markers to help in future nosological subtyping of schizophrenia.

Validation of Schizophrenia Cognition Rating Scale (SCoRS) and comparative evaluation of cognitive functioning in patients with first episode schizophrenia and chronic schizophrenia

The Schizophrenia Cognition Rating Scale (SCoRS) is an interview based assessment of cognition specifically designed to measure the severity of cognitive deficits in schizophrenia as viewed by patients and observed by informants and assessed by the interviewer. This study seeks to assess the reliability of SCoRS, and the validity of SCoRS against a battery of cognitive tests and measures of psychosocial functioning. When validated, SCoRS potentially allows clinicians a feasible measure to reliably assess the level of cognitive functioning in patients with schizophrenia which correlates well with real world functioning.

Experiences of caregivers of First Episode psychosis patients

The study aims to examine the experiences of caregivers of patients with first-episode psychosis before and after they came in for psychiatric treatment. Specifically, the study aims to examine (1) the caregivers’ level of burden, (2) the caregivers’ coping strategies, and (3) the caregivers’ social network at their first contact with the Early Psychosis Intervention Programme (EPIP), and six months later. The study predicts that the involvement in EPIP will lead to lower level of burden, more frequent adoption of effective coping strategies, and a more supportive social network among the caregivers.

The study participants will be recruited from EPIP and they will be administered the Socio-demographic questionnaire, the Family Problems Questionnaire (FPQ), the Family Coping Questionnaire (FCQ), and the Social Network Questionnaire (SNQ) at both intervals. The researchers hope that findings from this study will provide useful information that will enable mental health workers to deliver effective support to the caregivers of psychiatric patients.