Integrating cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy for persons with schizophrenia into a psychiatric rehabilitation program: Results of a three year trial

Emerging models of cognitive-behavioral treatment (CBT) offer promising new intervention strategies in the psychotherapy of schizophrenia. These models, however,have not been integrated into community support programs and evaluated in comparison to standard community treatments. This study examined differences in outcomes of clients who received long-term day treatment program services (DTP) compared to clients who received individual CBT that was included as part of their DTP treatment. Twenty-four clients were randomly assigned to DTP treatment or CBT/ DTP treatment. Data on standardized measures of psychosocial functioning, symptom atology and rehospitalizations were collected over the course of three years of treatment. Analysis of variance with repeated measures was conducted to evaluate the effects of type of treatment (CBT/DTP and DTP) and time (dependent variable scores taken at the end of treatment years one, two and three) on the three outcome variables. Results indicate significant improvement for the CBT/DTP group compared to the DTP group in the patterns of change over time for psychosocial functioning and symptomology. In addition to this significant group/time interaction the time factor was also significant for both variables. For rehospitalizations the time factor was significant and the group/ time factor was nonsignificant. Implications for service delivery to persons with schizophrenia and suggestions for future research are discussed.