Plain English summary
first-episode psychosis, depressive symptoms
Quality of life has emerged as a valuable outcome in first-episode psychosis (FEP) research. Young people with FEP also consider good quality of life to be more important than symptom management. Until recently, previous research into FEP has sought to identify which clinical, cognitive, and functioning factors are associated with low quality of life in FEP. However, these studies often ignore individual differences in quality of life. In this study we aimed to understand whether young people with FEP, who are in the later stages of their recovery, can be grouped into clinically meaningful subgroups based on their responses on four quality of life domains (i.e., physical health, psychological, social relationships, and environmental). This study indicates that young people with FEP experience either ‘good’, ‘intermediate’, or ‘poor’ quality of life at the later stages of recovery, and that depressive symptoms and social inclusion strongly predict membership to these quality of life subgroups. Findings from this study highlight the possibility of having good quality of life despite the challenges associated with FEP, whilst also demonstrating that poor quality of life can persist despite interventional effort. Future research should focus on developing interventions that address factors associated with poor quality of life, such as low social inclusion.