SU121. Apathy and Vocational Functioning—A 2-Year Follow-up

Abstract

Background: Negative symptoms are a core characteristic of schizophrenia affecting vocational, social and daily life functioning (Haro et al, 2015; Hunter and Barry, 2012). Of the negative symptoms, apathy has an independent negative impact on both social and vocational functioning (Fervaha et al, 2015; Strauss et al, 2013). However, less is known about the relationship between apathy and functional impairment in the context of vocational rehabilitation studies. We are interested in whether the provision of vocational rehabilitation augmented with cognitive remediation (CR) or cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) techniques might infuence the association between apathy and func-tioning. This paper examines the impact of apathy on social and vocational outcome at 2-year follow-up in a vocational rehabilitation study. Methods: A total of 148 participants were included in the Job Management Program (JUMP) study. Clinical and functional measures were assessed on inclusion, at approximately 10 months, and at 2-year follow-up. Apathy was assessed with the Apathy Evaluation Scale (Marin, Biedrzycki, and Firinciogullari, 1991) and social functioning with the Social Functioning Scale (Birchwood et al, 1990). Employment outcome included competitive and sheltered work, and hours worked per week. Results: From baseline to follow-up there was a small but signifcant improvement in apathy (F = 9.0, df = 2,239, P