Activity Based Group Intervention in Improving Negative Symptoms and Functional Outcome in Patients with Chronic Schizophrenia in Welfare Homes

AbstractSchizophrenia causes significant cognitive deficits, negative symptoms and functional impairment. These symptoms persist in certain patients in spite of evidence based pharmacological treatment. Many of these patients remain confined in welfare homes run by government or non-governmental organisations. Intervention modules to improve the condition of patients in these homes are scarce in India. We designed an activity based group intervention and assessed its effectiveness in patients with chronic schizophrenia in a welfare home. Participants were patients with chronic schizophrenia who were inmates of a welfare home for persons with mental illness. All of the subjects underwent evaluations that assessed clinical symptoms and functional outcomes at baseline and after 6  months. The evaluation was done using PANSS and RTI-E. The intervention was multimodal. The patients showed significant improvement in negative symptoms (effect size r = − 0.39). They showed improvement in activities of daily living (r = 0.88), communication (r = − 0.82) and in strumental activities of daily living (r = − 0.59). The current intervention resulted in reducing negative symptoms and improving functional outcome in patients with schizophrenia. These findings advocate the integration of rehabilitation programs into the standard treatment protocol for sch izophrenia in welfare homes.
Source: Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Mental Health - Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research