Improved cognitive function in schizophrenia after one year of cognitive training and vocational services.
A year-long program of Neurocognitive Enhancement Therapy (NET) was used to remediate cognitive deficits in people with schizophrenia who were participating in a vocational program. Seventy-two stable outpatients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder, recruited from an urban community mental health center were randomly assigned to a twelve-month vocational program (VOC) or NET+VOC. The vocational program had characteristics of individual placement and support (IPS) programs but also included transitional funding. NET included computer-based cognitive training exercises, a social information processing group and a work feedback group. Sixty-two participants completed a neuropsychological test battery before and after treatment. After one year of treatment, participants receiving NET+VOC had significantly greater improvements on measures of executive function and working memory than did participants in the VOC only condition. Augmenting vocational services with a multifaceted cognitive remediation program may improve cognition in participants with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder.
Yale University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Connecticut, USA. tamasine.greig@yale.edu
Tamasine C
TC
Greig
Wayne
W
Zito
Bruce E
BE
Wexler
Joanna
J
Fiszdon
Morris D
MD
Bell
D000328:Adult; D003071:Cognition; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010045:Outpatients; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000534:rehabilitation* / Q000628:therapy; D012050:Rehabilitation, Vocational; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000150:complications / Q000534:rehabilitation* / Q000628:therapy*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology