We summarize what we assess as the past year's most important findings within climate change research: limits to adaptation, vulnerability hotspots, new threats coming from the climate–health nexus, climate (im)mobility and security, sustainable practices for land use and finance, losses and damages, inclusive societal climate decisions and ways to overcome structural barriers to accelerate mitigation and limit global warming to below 2°C.

We synthesize 10 topics within climate research where there have been significant advances or emerging scientific consensus since January 2021. The selection of these insights was based on input from an international open call with broad disciplinary scope. Findings concern: (1) new aspects of soft and hard limits to adaptation; (2) the emergence of regional vulnerability hotspots from climate impacts and human vulnerability; (3) new threats on the climate–health horizon – some involving plants and animals; (4) climate (im)mobility and the need for anticipatory action; (5) security and climate; (6) sustainable land management as a prerequisite to land-based solutions; (7) sustainable finance practices in the private sector and the need for political guidance; (8) the urgent planetary imperative for addressing losses and damages; (9) inclusive societal choices for climate-resilient development and (10) how to overcome barriers to accelerate mitigation and limit global warming to below 2°C.

Science has evidence on barriers to mitigation and how to overcome them to avoid limits to adaptation across multiple fields.

Multi-attribute utility instruments (MAUIs) are generic health-related quality of life (HRQoL) measures that enable valuation of health states relative to death (0.0) and full health (1.0). The usefulness of MAUIs in people with psychosis has been questioned, with the EQ-5D considered “insensitive”, the 15D “problematic” and the SF-6D “unsuitable”.

Confirm the Assessment of Quality of Life (AQoL)-4D MAUI is useful and meaningful in people with psychosis.

Assess utility values across demographic, general and disease-specific health categorisations for a large nationally-representative sample with psychosis (n = 1825).

Participants underwent a comprehensive 32 module interview encompassing psychopathology to service use. Utility values were calculated by applying a standard algorithm to responses to each of 12 items of the AQoL-4D.

Utility values were assessed for 1793 participants (98.2%). No ceiling effect was observed and only 6.6% of participants scored in the top decile of HRQoL [0.9–10.0]. In contrast, 10.8% scored in the lowest decile [−0.04–0.10], a floor effect observed in 0.4%. The mean utility value was 0.49 (95% CI: 0.48–0.51), significantly lower than the Australian population norm of 0.81 (95% CI: 0.81–0.82). Greatest impacts on HRQoL were for diminishing global independent functioning as measured by the MSIF (ESMSIF: 0.68–2.24), self-rated current mental health (ESMH: 0.15–1.65) and physical health status (ESPH: 0.11–1.21). Strong effects also observed for course of disorder (ESCoD: 0.08–1.13), current suicidal ideation (ESCSI1: 0.76–1.08), and labor force participation (ESLFP: 0.11–0.97).

The AQoL-4D had good lower end sensitivity in a large sample of people with a psychotic illness, and demonstrated responsiveness across subjective, objective and symptom measures.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

People with psychotic disorders face impairments in their global functioning and their quality of life (QoL). The relationship between the two outcomes has not been systematically investigated. Through a systematic review, we aim to explore the presence and extent of associations between global functioning and QoL and establish whether associations depend on the instruments employed.

In May 2016, ten electronic databases were searched using a two-phase process to identify articles in which associations between global functioning and QoL were assessed. Basic descriptive data and correlation coefficients between global functioning and QoL instruments were extracted, with the strength of the correlation assessed according to the specifications of Cohen 1988. Results were reported with reference to the Meta-analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology guidelines and PRISMA standards. A narrative synthesis was performed due to heterogeneity in methodological approaches.

Of an initial 15 183 non-duplicate articles identified, 756 were deemed potentially relevant, with 40 studies encompassing 42 articles included. Fourteen instruments for measuring global functioning and 22 instruments for measuring QoL were used. Twenty-nine articles reported linear associations while 19 assessed QoL predictors. Correlations between overall scores varied in strength, primarily dependent on the QoL instrument employed, and whether QoL was objectively or subjectively assessed. Correlations observed for objective QoL measures were consistently larger than those observed for subjective measures, as were correlations for an interviewer than self-assessed QoL. When correlations were assessed by domains of QoL, the highest correlations were found for social domains of QoL, for which most correlations were moderate or higher. Global functioning consistently predicted overall QoL as did depressive and negative symptoms.

This review is the first to explore the extent of associations between global functioning and QoL in people with psychotic disorders. We consistently found a positive association between global functioning and QoL. The strength of the association was dependent on the QoL instrument employed. QoL domains strongly associated with global functioning were highlighted. The review illustrates the extensive array of instruments used for the assessment of QoL and to a lesser extent global functioning in people with psychotic disorders and provides a framework to understand the different findings reported in the literature. The findings can also inform the future choice of instruments by researchers and/or clinicians. The observed associations reassure that interventions for improving global functioning will have a positive impact on the QoL of people living with a psychotic disorder.