Research on functional performance of individuals with schizophrenia and substance use is limited, focusing primarily on cognitive impairments. Research findings are conflicting, making it difficult to understand how these individuals function despite their cognitive impairments. There is a need to use performance-based assessments to understand how individuals with a dual-diagnosis accomplish their daily living activities.

To describe the functional performance of individuals with a dual-diagnosis in two activities of daily living, using a performance-based assessment.

To compare the functional performance of individuals with a dual-diagnosis, in grocery shopping and budgeting.

This descriptive cross-sectional study included ten participants with a dual-diagnosis of schizophrenia and substance-use disorder, aged 21 to 35, living independently in the community. They were evaluated on two tasks, budgeting and grocery shopping, using the Perceive-Recall-Plan-Perform (PRPP) system of task analysis (Chapparo & Ranka, 2005). The PRPP is a standardized criterion-referenced task-based assessment, and is valuable in describing individuals’ community functioning with regards to information-processing difficulties. Substance use was evaluated with the Addiction Severity Index (McLellan et al., 1989).

Preliminary results indicate lower scores on both tasks, in the planning quadrant of the PRPP, particularly the evaluating sub-quadrant, which involves cognitive monitoring and appraisal processes. This trend occurs despite the participant's prior familiarity with tasks. Conclusions: This study is a first step in describing the functional performance of individuals with a dual diagnosis of schizophrenia and substance use in activities of daily living. This information will lead to improved rehabilitation for these clients.