Symptom self-management and relapse in schizophrenia

The purpose of this descriptive study was to examine the relationships among 4 variables that are hypothesized to be associated with relapse in schizophrenia; insight, symptom recognition, symptom self-management, and perceived effectiveness of symptom self-management. The theoretical framework was derived from self-management theory and the vulnerability-stress model of schizophrenia. Pearson's correlation coefficients for the variables in the model detected 2 significant relationships; between symptom recognition and symptom self-management and between symptom self-management and perceived effectiveness of symptom self-management. Insight was not found to be significantly related to the other variables. Results of the study indicate that individuals with schizophrenia do recognize symptoms associated with relapse and use a wide range of management methods, regardless of the degree of insight present.