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. 2023 Sep 7:14:1200669.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1200669. eCollection 2023.

Sense of mastery in first-episode psychosis-a one-year follow-up study

Maija Lindgren  1 , Sebastian Therman  1 , Tiina From  2 , Jarmo Hietala  2   3 , Heikki Laurikainen  2   3 , Raimo K R Salokangas  2 , Jaana Suvisaari  1
Affiliations

Sense of mastery in first-episode psychosis-a one-year follow-up study

Maija Lindgren et al. Front Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Introduction: A sense of mastery refers to beliefs about having control over one's life and has been found to protect health and buffer the effect of stressful experiences.

Methods: We investigated sense of mastery in first-episode psychosis (FEP) patients and population controls at baseline and at one-year follow-up. Pearlin and Schooler's Sense of Mastery scale was completed by 322 participants at baseline and by 184 participants at follow-up.

Results: People having experienced FEP reported lower mastery than controls at both time points, but a modest increase was seen in patients at follow-up. The strongest correlates of high baseline mastery in FEP were lower depressive symptoms and higher perceived social support, whereas positive or negative psychotic symptoms did not associate with mastery. Current depressive symptoms also correlated with mastery at the follow-up point, and change in depressive symptoms correlated with change in mastery. Higher mastery at treatment entry predicted remission of psychotic symptoms one year later. Sense of mastery was also found to mediate the association of perceived social support with depressive symptoms.

Discussion: The usefulness of mastery measures should be further tested for estimations of patient prognosis in early psychosis.

Keywords: depression; mastery; psychosis; remission; schizophrenia; social support.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Sense of mastery means and 95% confidence intervals in the study groups. Sense of mastery mean change over the follow-up was 2.1 ± 4.1 in 82 FEP participants and −0.1 ± 3.3 in 91 controls.
Figure 2
Figure 2
FEP group change in mastery vs. change in depressive symptoms scores over the follow-up year, with regression line.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Mediation model with unstandardized coefficients of direct and indirect effects of perceived social support on depression by mastery at baseline, when controlling for age, sex, education years, functioning level, and anxiety, positive, and negative symptom levels.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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