[Neuropsychological testing in vocational rehabilitation for subjects with schizophrenia]

Until now it is difficult to predict the success of vocational rehabilitation programs for subjects with severe mental illnesses. The growing knowledge about the neuropsychological mechanisms of psychiatric disorders has not been fully integrated into psychiatric rehabilitation research. We reviewed the literature how to use neuropsychological parameters for predicting outcome of vocational rehabilitation programs in subjects with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorders. Twenty studies were reviewed, which evaluated neuropsychological variables to predict dimensions of rehabilitation success. As a result of this review, we suggest implementing neurocognitive tests, which assess executive functions, working memory, and attention deficits in routine rehabilitation to better plan and coordinate rehabilitation, and to predict rehabilitation outcome.