The Effect of Psychosocial Skills Training and Metacognitive Training on Social and Cognitive Functioning in Schizophrenia

Introduction: The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of Psychosocial Skills Training (PSST) and Metacognitive Training (MCT) programs on general psychopathology, cognitive functioning, and social functioning in patients with schizophrenia. Methods: Twenty patients with schizophrenia who were treated at the Kocaeli University Psychiatry Department outpatient clinic between January and June 2016, accepted to participate in the study and met inclusion criteria were included in this study. Patients were randomized as two groups of 10 people. The management of each group was carried out by a trainer and a co-trainer. The Positive and Negative Symptom Scale (PANSS) and Clinical Global Impression Scale-Severity (CGI-S) to assess psychopathology, the General Assessment of Functioning (GAF) and the Quality of Life Scale in Schizophrenia (QoLS) to assess social functioning, the Cognitive Assessment Interview (CAI) to assess cognitive functioning were used by the clinicians blinding to groups in the first two weeks before and after the intervention. After the training, first and last test scale scores were compared. Results: All patients who participated in the study completed the study (male: 13, female: 7). There was no significant difference in age, gender, marital status, years of education, duration of illness, the age of onset, and the number of hospitalizations in comparison of individual and clinical characteristics of the groups (p>0.05). When the scores were compared of the groups before and after the intervention, there was a significant difference concerning psychopathology, social and cognitive functioning in both groups (p<0.05). There were no significant differences between the groups in terms of effect size. Conclusion: The study showed that both programs aiming to improve psychopathology and functioning in the treatment of schizophrenia have positive results. Improvement in cognitive functioning should also be tested by neurocognitive tests in the large-scale studies with control groups.