Study of Cognitive Functions Efficaciously Affected by PsychoeducationalProgram for Patients with Schizophrenia

Background: Although psychoeducational programs for patients with schizophrenia have become relatively standardized, the correlation between effectiveness of such programs and cognitive function has rarely been investigated. To the best of our knowledge, studies detailing the effectiveness of such programs on cognitive function in Japan have yet to be reported. Method: Participants included 91 patients with schizophrenia (women, n=46; men, n=45; mean age, 43.2 years) who had been admitted to a subacute care unit in Showa University Karasuyama Hospital and who had given their consent to participate. In this study, a new psychoeducation-based, psychosocial intervention program (the Program) was initiated. The effectiveness of the Program was evaluated by the comparisons with global daily function and daily cognitive functions between pre and post intervention in patients. Results and discussion: Our results showed that the global assessment of functioning (GAF) score was significantly associated with the Wisconsin card sorting test (WCST) total number of errors and perseverative errors. We confirmed that the effectiveness of the Program and global functional improvement is related with improvement of executive function.Conclusion: On the basis of these results, future studies are warranted to improve our program and confirm its long-term effectiveness.