Functional Rehabilitation for Older Patients With Schizophrenia

Summary

Aging and psychosis are major priority areas for VA. This project is a continuation of a Merit Review Program, in which we developed, manualized and conducted randomized controlled trials of a novel psychosocial rehabilitation intervention for older people with schizophrenia, called cognitive-behavioral social skills training (CBSST). We found that CBSST improved community functioning in these patients. CBSST, however, is an intensive program that would burden VA mental health clinics with demands for additional staff and financial resources and burdens older veterans with travel and time demands. To reduce these burdens and barriers to implementation of CBSST, we are developing a computer-assisted CBSST intervention that takes advantage of available handheld computer technology. Therapist contact is cut 50% and replaced by handheld computer-assisted CBSST intervention tools. The project will examine whether computer-assisted CBSST is as effective as the full CBSST program, while improving client satisfaction and reducing burden and cost.

Conditions

• Schizophrenia
• Aging

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

CBSST+PDA

PDA-Assisted Cognitive Behavioral Social Skills Training (CBSST+PDA) includes weekly group therapy sessions, each 90 minutes in length, with 6-8 patients (maximum of 10) were held for 24 weeks. The intervention integrated cognitive behavioral and social skills training interventions modified for use with older patients with psychosis. Participants utilized PDAs to assist with homework completion and compliance.

BEHAVIORAL

Cognitive Behavioral Social Skills Training

Cognitive Behavioral Social Skills Training includes weekly group therapy sessions, each 2.5 hours (30 min lunch break) in length, with 6-8 patients (maximum of 10) were held for 24 weeks. The intervention integrated cognitive behavioral and social skills training interventions modified for use with older patients with psychosis.

BEHAVIORAL

PDA-only

To control for the effects of having a PDA, a third group was provided PDAs for the same duration as the other two groups. Participants had access to the same basic functions (calendar, contact list, etc.) as the CBSST+PDA group, but did not have any homework or weekly group meetings.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• US Department of Veterans Affairs

  lead FED

Principal Investigators

• Eric L. Granholm, PhD · VA San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

45 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2008-07-31

Primary Completion

2010-11-30

Completion

2010-11-30

Countries

• United States

Study Locations