Grant: Project Grant

People with a diagnosis of schizophrenia face high levels of risk to health and well-being during weather extremes, even in comparison to other major chronic physical and mental illnesses. For example, in the 2021 Western Heat Dome, schizophrenia was the health diagnosis most strongly associated with mortality by a wide margin as compared with other physical and mental illness diagnoses. The current evidence base is not sufficient to address the information needed to inform service and system responses to this major public health risk. The proposed study has two aims. We will: 1) examine the feasibility of a methodological approach to examining heat exposure for people with schizophrenia spectrum diagnoses and, 2) provide preliminary evidence regarding the mechanisms through which heat exposure impacts their health and well-being. Over two summers, we will complete (i) baseline assessments immediately prior to the summer, (ii) a short assessment during a period of extreme heat, (iii) continuous assessment throughout the summer using wearables, weather metrics, and indoor environmental quality measurement devices, and (iv) a follow-up assessment at the end of the summer. We anticipate that the findings of this study will lead to an improved understanding of the complex interactions between heat extremes and the health and well-being of people with schizophrenia, as well as the best methods for studying those interactions. This work will help direct responses from individual interventions to policy design - a part of the larger effort to reduce the suffering and mortality experienced by populations that have severe mental illnesses and are disproportionately exposed to the effects of climate change.