Work Rehabilitation For Older Adults With Schizophrenia

描述（由候选人提供）：这个为期五年的培训奖项的主要目标是进一步发展Elizabeth Twamley博士在以下领域的专业知识：1)精神分裂症及相关疾病患者的工作康复；2)应用神经心理学研究，重点关注神经心理学测试成绩与日常功能，特别是工作能力之间的关系；3)临床试验研究设计、方法和统计分析，可用于评估这些关系。她的首要职业目标是为患有严重精神疾病的人进行神经心理学和干预研究。提出的职业发展计划建立在她在临床心理学的博士培训，她在临床神经心理学的专业培训，以及她在神经心理学和精神分裂症的研究背景。拟定的培训计划

DESCRIPTION (provided by candidate): The primary goal of this five-year training award is to further develop Dr. Elizabeth Twamley's expertise in the following areas: 1) work rehabilitation for individuals with schizophrenia and related disorders; 2) applied neuropsychological research, focusing on the relationships between neuropsychological test performance and everyday functioning, particularly work abilities; and 3) clinical trials research design, methodology, and statistical analysis that can be used to evaluate these relationships. Her overarching career goal is to bridge neuropsychological and interventions research for persons with severe mental illness. The proposed career development plan builds on her doctoral training in clinical psychology, her specialty training in clinical neuropsychology, and her research background in neuropsychology and schizophrenia. The proposed training plan will include structured coursework and regular mentoring from experts in the fields of psychiatric work rehabilitation, neuropsychology, geriatric psychiatry, and schizophrenia research. The training plan is complemented by a research project designed to evaluate the efficacy of a work rehabilitation program for middle-aged and older individuals with schizophrenia. Few of these individuals work, yet about 40% desire paid employment or volunteer work. A type of work rehabilitation called Individualized Placement and Support (IPS), which has achieved the status of evidence-based practice for younger individuals, will be prospectively studied for the first time in a randomized controlled trial for middle-aged and older patients. Retrospective data comparing older schizophrenia patients in IPS programs with those in conventional work rehabilitation programs have shown rates of paid employment to be 69% vs. 29%, respectively. The proposed research will address the IPS program's differential effects on work activity, psychiatric symptoms, functional capacity, and quality of life, as well as cognitive, demographic, and clinical predictors of successful work outcomes. The results of the study will be useful not only in establishing the efficacy of IPS for middle-aged and older consumers, but also in illuminating the relationships between neuropsychological performance, work-related functional capacity, and ultimate work outcomes in this population. Together, the training and research plan will allow Dr. Twamley to transition from a postdoctoral research fellow to an independent investigator in the UCSD Department of Psychiatry, and will provide the foundation for a research career focused on cognition and work rehabilitation for individuals with severe psychiatric disorders.