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Cognitive Improvement Helps Drive Function Gains in Patients With Schizophrenia
Cognitive gains partially mediate the relationship between cognitive enhancement therapy (CET) and improved functional capacity in people with schizophrenia, according to a study published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research.
“This evidence can be beneficial for guiding more targeted approaches for rehabilitation in this population,” wrote lead and corresponding author Ana T. Flores, a PhD student at the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work, Pittsburgh, PA, and coauthors.
Researchers conducted a secondary analysis of an 18-month randomized controlled trial of CET to examine the role of cognitive improvement in participants’ functional capacity gains on the Brief UCSD Performance-Based Skills Assessment (UPSA-B) scale. The study included 86 outpatients in the early course of schizophrenia.
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Mixed-effects models indicated that changes in participants’ overall cognitive performance, as measured by the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery and social cognition measures, were a significant mediator of CET-related gains in functional capacity on the UPSA-B. This was true at both mid-treatment and treatment completion timepoints, researchers reported.
Specifically, improvements in attention, theory of mind, and emotion processing significantly mediated CET effects on functional capacity, exploratory models examining separable cognitive domains showed.
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