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Effectiveness of a two-phase cognitive rehabilitation intervention for severely impaired schizophrenia patients

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 August 2004

STEVEN M. SILVERSTEIN
Affiliation:
Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, NY, USA
MICHI HATASHITA-WONG
Affiliation:
Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, NY, USA
BETH ANNE SOLAK
Affiliation:
Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, NY, USA
PETER UHLHAAS
Affiliation:
Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, NY, USA
YULIA LANDA
Affiliation:
Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, NY, USA
SANDRA M. WILKNISS
Affiliation:
Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, NY, USA
CLAUDIA GOICOCHEA
Affiliation:
Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, NY, USA
KELLY CARPINIELLO
Affiliation:
Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, NY, USA
LINDSAY S. SCHENKEL
Affiliation:
Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, NY, USA
ADAM SAVITZ
Affiliation:
Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, NY, USA
THOMAS E. SMITH
Affiliation:
Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, NY, USA

Abstract

Background. Several small-N, uncontrolled reports have demonstrated that the behavioral technique of attention shaping has significantly increased attention span among severely ill schizophrenia patients.

Method. In this study, we evaluated the effectiveness of using an individually administered intervention for improving sustained attention, Attention Process Training (APT), followed by an attention-shaping procedure within the context of an ongoing skills training group. Patients were randomly assigned to receive either the APT and attention-shaping sequence (n=18) or equivalent hours of treatment in the same intensive behavioral rehabilitation program (n=13).

Results. Results indicated dramatic improvements in attentiveness in the cognitive rehabilitation condition compared with the control condition, which demonstrated essentially no change in attentiveness over the 12 weeks of treatment. The attention-shaping intervention appeared to account for the majority of the effect. In contrast to the observational data, performance on neuropsychological tests was unaffected by the cognitive interventions.

Conclusions. This two-phase intervention demonstrated effectiveness in promoting attentive behavior among chronic schizophrenia patients with severe attentional impairment.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2004 Cambridge University Press

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