title: Impaired reading comprehension in schizophrenia: evidence for underlying phonological processing deficits.
abstract: The present study examined reading ability in high functioning people with schizophrenia. To this end, 16 people with schizophrenia who were living in the community and 12 matched controls completed tests of passage reading (comprehension, accuracy, and rate), word recognition, and phonological processing (phonological awareness, phonological memory and rapid naming) and ratings of reading self-concept and practices. Performance of the participants with schizophrenia was impaired relative to control participants on reading comprehension and rapid naming and relative to the population norms on phonological awareness, and rapid naming. In addition, self-rating data revealed that participants with schizophrenia had poorer perceptions of their reading ability and engaged in reading activities less frequently than their control counterparts. Consistent with earlier research, significant correlations were found between phonological awareness and reading comprehension. These findings expand on previous research in the area to suggest that community-based individuals with schizophrenia experience problems with reading comprehension that may have a phonological basis.
authors.affiliation: Division of Speech Pathology, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia. w.arnott@uq.edu.au
authors.forename: Wendy
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Arnott
authors.forename: Lauren
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sali
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Copland
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001364:Awareness / Q000502:physiology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D032882:Comprehension; D004410:Dyslexia / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010700:Phonetics; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000150:complications*