The Mediating Role of Metacognitive Beliefs in Self-Compassion and Schizophrenia Recovery

Schizophrenia is a chronic psychiatric disorder that significantly affects individuals' mental health. Sustained personal recovery in schizophrenia is a multidimensional process that extends beyond symptom reduction and may be significantly influenced by psychological resources and cognitive appraisals. While self-compassion and metacognitive beliefs are known to affect mental health outcomes independently, their interacting roles in predicting personal recovery remain unclear.

This study examined the mediating role of metacognitive beliefs in the relationship between self-compassion and recovery among individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia.

A cross-sectional correlational design was used. A purposive sample of 150 clinically stable adults diagnosed with schizophrenia (DSM-5 criteria) was recruited from psychiatric outpatient clinics at Helwan University Hospitals, Egypt, between April and September 2024. Data were collected through structured face-to-face interviews using the Arabic versions of the Metacognition Questionnaire-30, the Self-Compassion Scale-Short Form, and the Recovery Assessment Scale-Domains and Stages.

Bivariate analyses revealed a significant positive correlation between self-compassion and personal recovery (r = 0.374, p < 0.001). While total metacognitive belief scores correlated positively with recovery (r = 0.346, p < 0.001), subscale analysis indicated this was driven primarily by the Cognitive Self-Consciousness subscale (r = 0.598, p < 0.001). The association between self-compassion and total metacognitive beliefs was non-significant (r = 0.084, p = 0.304). Consequently, mediation analysis demonstrated that self-compassion showed a significant direct association with recovery (B = 0.5726, p < 0.001); however, the indirect pathway through metacognitive beliefs was not significant (B = 0.0442, 95% Bootstrap CI [-0.045, 0.147]).

Metacognitive beliefs were not found to mediate the association between self-compassion and recovery; instead, self-compassion was independently associated with multidimensional recovery. Clinically, these findings support the integration of self-compassion training into long-term schizophrenia treatment plans. Future longitudinal and intervention-based studies are warranted to clarify the temporal dynamics of these relationships.