Schizophrenia is an extreme mental health disturbance that affects person’s well-being and participation in everyday activities. Participation in meaningful everyday occupations is an important component of recovery from mental illness, the ultimate goal of mental health services. Participation restrictions of people with schizophrenia have been widely investigated through illness symptoms, cognition, and demographic data; however, the resulting explanations were incomplete. Recent studies suggest occurrence of sensory modulation (SM) disorder in schizophrenia that was found affecting everyday participation in other populations.

The study objectives were exploration of SM patterns of people with schizophrenia and their impact on participation in daily life.

The study aimed to compare SM patterns in schizophrenia to healthy population and to investigate their contribution to participation in everyday activities in addition to cognition and schizophrenia symptoms.

Forty nine in-patients with schizophrenia (study group) and 32 adults without mental illness (control group) comprised the study. They were assessed for their participation patterns, sensory modulation processes, cognitive functioning and symptoms severity.

Results indicate significant differences between the study groups in most measurements addressed: participation (diversity: t79=-6.5, p<.001; and satisfaction: t78.8=-2.29, p<.05), sensory modulation scores (t79=6.23, p<.001) and cognitive measurements (Z=-6.57, p<.005). The most contributive parameters for prediction of participation dimensions among people with schizophrenia were negative symptoms severity and general cognitive status (2.535,44<5.06; p<.05; 0.122 =0.3<0.41).

People with schizophrenia experience SM disorder with an under responsive tendency. However, the complex condition of schizophrenia dominates its influence on participation dimensions.