How Family Factors Impact Psychosocial Functioning for African American Consumers with Schizophrenia

There is a critical need to test how family contextual factors impact outpatient consumer functioning in schizophrenia. This
is the first study of two companion studies reported here that tests family factors’ influence on consumer functioning. Ninety-three
low income inner-city African American consumer-family dyads were tested to see the possible impact of family factors, based
on the EE and family caregiver burden literatures, on consumer psychosocial functioning (work, social, and independent living).
The results supported a model wherein greater amounts of family contact had a significant relationship with better consumer
psychosocial functioning. Additionally, family dysfunction had a direct negative relationship to consumer psychosocial functioning
while family pressures and resources had an indirect negative relationship to consumer psychosocial functioning. Results are
in marked contrast to what impacted consumer clinical functioning for the same sample. The findings appear to confirm that
family factors differently impact the domains of clinical and psychosocial functioning. These findings are new for understanding
the contextual factors that impact consumer functioning, especially psychosocial functioning.