In-home psychosocial skills training for patients with schizophrenia

Objective: The purpose of this study was to test an intervention that adapted the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) social and independent living skills program for application in the patient's home and in an outpatient setting in Spain. Methods: An intervention group of 32 patients with schizophrenia was selected for comparison with a matched control group of patients who were undergoing conventional outpatient treatment for schizophrenia during six-month treatment periods. The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) scoring system was used to compare the two groups, with a pretest-posttest design. Results: Analysis of variance indicated a significant phase-by-treatment interaction effect of the intervention on PANSS scores. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that a combination of outpatient follow-up care and in-home care centered on psychosocial skills training is more effective than conventional treatment in improving general symptoms among individuals with schizophrenia.