Why is the educational attainment of people with schizophrenia lagging so far behind?

Abstract

It is well known that education is important. It underpins the social mobility of individuals, increases the range of contributions that people can make to their communities and economies, and is a driving force in increasing national productivity and income levels. National datasets consistently show a link between higher levels of education and lower levels of unemployment and higher income. 1 US Bureau of Labor StatisticsEducation pays. https://www.bls.gov/emp/chart-unemployment-earnings-education.htmDate: 2021 Date accessed: April 30, 2022 Google Scholar While this is well known in the general population, it has also been known for a long time that educational attainment is important to people living with mental illness. 2 Iyer SN Mangala R Anitha J Thara R Malla AK An examination of patient-identified goals for treatment in a first-episode programme in Chennai, India. Early Interv Psychiatry. 2011; 5: 360-365 Crossref PubMed Scopus (47) Google Scholar In addition, education is recognised in a number of international treaties and covenants as a fundamental human right. 3 United Nations General AssemblyInternational Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. United Nations, New York1966https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/international-covenant-economic-social-and-cultural-rightsDate accessed: April 30, 2022 Google Scholar , 4 United Nations General AssemblyConvention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. United Nations, New York2006https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-rights-persons-disabilitiesDate accessed: April 30, 2022 Google Scholar Article 13 of the International Convention on Economic, Cultural and Social Rights and Article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of People with Disability speak respectively to the general right to access to education and the specific right of people with disabilities, which includes people with mental illness, to access education. Representative surveys of people living with schizophrenia consistently show that this right is not realised for them. 5 Waghorn G Saha S Harvey C et al. ‘Earning and learning’ in those with psychotic disorders: the second Australian national survey of psychosis. Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2012; 46: 774-785 Crossref PubMed Scopus (87) Google Scholar The enduring gap in educational attainment in schizophrenia according to the past 50 years of published research: a systematic review and meta-analysisPatients with schizophrenia have faced persistent inequality in educational attainment in the last century, despite advances in psychosocial and pharmacological treatment. Reducing this gap should become a priority to improve their functional outcomes. Full-Text PDF