The Effect of Life Skills Training on Functioning in Schizophrenia: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Objective: Psychosocial approaches including occupational therapeutic interventions constitute an important part of mental health treatments. This research was planned to investigate the effects of individualized life skills training on the functionality of individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia. Method: A total of 32 individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia were assigned randomly to the study (n=15) and the control groups (n=17). The participants were evaluated with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale for symptom severity, the Clinical Global Impression Scale for illness severity and improvement and response to treatment, the Katz Index of Independence in Activities of Daily Living and the Lawton - Brody Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Scale for adequacy of performance of basic activities and tasks of daily living, the Functioning Assessment Short Test and Social Functioning Scale for assessing the level of functionality before and after the scheduled interventions for both groups. The control group received a single-session awareness training to increase independence in daily living activities and the study group received individualized life skills training in 2 sessions per week for 8 weeks (=16 sessions). Results: At the end of the research program, improvements were observed in the negative symptoms, general psychopathology, severity of illness and independence in basic and instrumental activities of daily living and functioning in the study group as compared to the control group. Conclusion: On the basis of the obtained results, we believe that the individualized life skills training may be an effective therapeutic method for the rehabilitation of individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia. The results of our study should be supported by long-term follow-up studies.