Associations between types of abuse and theory of mind impairments

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Associations between types of abuse and theory of mind impairments in individuals with schizophrenia

• IRAS ID

  166811

• Contact name

  Ciaran Shannon

• Contact email

  ciaran.shannon@qub.ac.uk

• Duration of Study in the UK

  1 years, 2 months, 28 days

• Research summary

  Are Theory of mind impairments in adults with schizophrenia related to experiences of specific types of childhood abuse?
  Theory of mind (TOM: the ability to understand our own and other people's mental states)impairments are highly prevalent within schizophrenic populations, and are often considered a "trait marker" of schizophrenia. Research has demonstrated links between theory of mind deficits and delusions in psychotic illnesses, however there is minimal research explaining why theory of mind deficits are present for these individuals. The link between childhood trauma and psychosis has been well established therefore this study aims to investigate possible associations between different types of abuse experiences (namely emotional abuse and neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse and harassment, and life threat) and theory of Mind impairments in adults with schizophrenia within a Trust area in Northern Ireland. Participants will be asked to complete self-report questionnaires to assess the severity of traumatic experiences, and to check for the presence of delusional symptoms whilst theory of mind ability will be assessed using a verbal hinting test. This should take approximately 30 minutes to complete during one appointment, and the opportunity will be provided to discuss their experience of participating in the study. This will be a quantitative study using a cross-sectional retrospective design. Regressional analyses will be conducted on the data collected in order to make conclusions about links between childhood traumatic experiences and theory of mind abilities in individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia.

• REC name

  HSC REC A

• REC reference

  15/NI/0027

• Date of REC Opinion

  24 Mar 2015

• REC opinion

  Further Information Favourable Opinion