The goal of the current meta-analysis was to build on previous
meta-analyses by (a) including only RCTs of SST; (b) including
only studies with samples in which the majority of clients had
diagnoses of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder; (c) investigating
the impact of training variables (i.e., duration of SST
program), experimental design issues (i.e., active vs. treatment-asusual
[TAU] control conditions), and participant characteristics on
observed outcomes; and (d) categorizing and evaluating outcome
measures on a continuum of hypothesized proximal versus distal
effects of SST, as illustrated in Figure 1. Specifically, on the basis
of the theory of how SST works (Liberman et al., 1986), we
expected that the impact of SST would be strongest on measures of
content mastery of skills targeted by SST, followed by capacitybased
measures of social and everyday life skills (e.g., role play
tests), followed by measures of psychosocial functioning (e.g.,
social relationships, community adjustment) and negative symptoms.
According to the stress-vulnerability model