Brief Assessment of Cognition and Cognitive Remediation in Schizophrenia: Implications for Psychoeducation
Poster B131, Friday, October 21, 11:30 am - 1:00 pm, Le Baron
Natalia Semenova1; 1Moscow Research Institute of Psychiatry
Demand for higher efficiency in mental health-care systems requires efficient application of psychoeducation in order to increase schizophrenia patients' knowledge of, and insight into, their illness and its treatment. To date there has been little discussion in the literature of what the developing field of cognitive remediation might mean for psychoeducation. Purpose. The paper describes a group-based psychoeducational intervention designed for persons with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. Materials and Methods. The program integrates a number of ‘cognitive domain’ issues into cohesive psychoeducational package. Patient information program provides balanced presentations of (1) cognitive impairment (as the core component of schizophrenia), (2) the Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia (BACS) (as a comprehensive neurocognitive battery, which contains six cognitive domains that were reported to be compromised in patients with schizophrenia), (3) and cognitive remediation (as a therapy which engages the patient in learning activities that enhance his or her neurocognitive skills). A single transmission of information cannot be considered sufficient in itself; how the information is received and acted upon is integral with the didactically skillful communication of the key information. Results. Broad efforts are made to sensitize and educate patients as to how to act upon this ‘cognitive domain’ information. The conductor’s work is, in the first instance, to turn the BACS into an effective therapeutic tool. Conclusion. Patients were, by means of preliminary briefing concerning the ‘cognitive domain’, supposed to develop an understanding of the domain and further be convinced to commit to more long-term involvement in subsequent cognitive remediation therapy.
Topic Area: Psychosocial Interventions