title: Conversation skills training of thought-disordered schizophrenic patients through attention focusing.
abstract: An attention-focusing procedure was designed as discrete trials and multiple prompts with contingent social reinforcement to facilitate the acquisition of conversational skills in thought-disordered schizophrenia patients. Three patients with DSM-III-R diagnoses of schizophrenia completed a standard social skills training program and the attention-focusing procedure in multiple baseline experimental designs. While social skills training had little effect on the acquisition of skills, patients who completed the attention-focusing procedure significantly increased performance of conversational skills and showed some generalization of trained behaviors.
authors.affiliation: UCLA Department of Psychiatry.
authors.forename: H K
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Massel
authors.forename: P W
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Corrigan
authors.forename: R P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Liberman
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Milan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D001521:Behavior Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005793:Generalization, Psychological; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D012564:Schizophrenic Language; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D013239:Stereotyped Behavior; D013850:Thinking; D014705:Verbal Behavior