Abstract
Schizophrenia patients present deficits in social cognition (SC), emotion and social perception, theory of mind (ToM), and attributional style. This study tested the efficacy, in real clinical conditions, of a online self-training program in SC, e-Motional Training®, in comparison with treatment as usual. A randomized single-blinded multicenter clinical trial was conducted with 60 schizophrenia stable outpatients. All patients (control and intervention) were treated with drug therapy, case management, and individual and group psychotherapy (not focused on SC). Intervention group was treated with e-Motional Training®, an online program devised for SC rehabilitation. A descriptive analysis and parametric/non-parametric tests were used to compare both groups at baseline. Analysis of covariance was used to compared post-pre changes in SC between the two interventions. If the group effect was significant, follow-up univariate test (t-test for dependent samples) was carried out in each group to verify whether the effect was due to improvement in the intervention group or deterioration in the control group. We considered statistically significant differences with P < 0.05. Significant improvements were obtained in the intervention group in emotion recognition and most ToM variables in comparison with the control group. e-Motional Training® seems to be a promising online training tool for SC deficits in schizophrenia, covering the lack of similar intervention instruments in our community.
Highlights
Schizophrenia patients present deficits in social cognition (SC), emotion and social perception, theory of mind (ToM), and attributional style
61 patients were assigned to the control group (TAU) or to the intervention group (TAU + e-Motional Training® 1.0 (ET)) between January and November 2015 (Figure 1)
There were no significant differences between the two groups at baseline in sociodemographic variables compound intelligence quotient (IQ) (P = 0.385) and non-verbal IQ (P = 0.143) measured with Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (K-BIT)
Summary
Schizophrenia patients present deficits in social cognition (SC), emotion and social perception, theory of mind (ToM), and attributional style. Longitudinal studies have shown that these difficulties are stable over the course of the disease [11, 12] there is evidence that individuals in the remission phase perform better on ER tests than individuals who are in the acute phase of the disorder [6]. These difficulties are considered to have a moderate association with social functioning of hospitalized patients [13] in comparison with outpatients [14]
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