Psychosocial treatment seems to be effective in the
management of schizophrenia,although less in the area of quality of
life and social functioning. To study the effectiveness of a hallucination
focused integrated treatment with cognitive-behaviour therapy and
coping training among schizophrenia patients suffering from hearing
voices.
Method: In a randomized controlled trial (RCT) with 31 patients in
the integrated treatment condition and 32 patients in the routine care
condition,quality of life was assessed with the self-report questionnaire
of the WHO (Bref),and social role functioning with an interviewer
based schedule,at entry and 9 (post-treatment) and 18 months later.
Results: Follow-up data suggest a significant improvement of quality
of life and in particular in social role functioning (effect size 0.64) in
favour of the integrated treatment.
Conclusion: The integrated treatment seems to be effective in reducing
overall disability levels and number of patients with serious disabilities