View clinical trials related to Schizo Affective Disorder.
Filter by:Patients affected by schizophrenia often present significant deficits in various aspects of social cognition, such as social perception, recognition of one's own and other people's emotional state and the theory of mind. Recent studies investigated the correlation between social cognition and real-life functioning, reporting that greater social cognition deficits determine worse social and occupational functioning in real-life. Therefore, social cognition deficits represent an important target both in therapeutic and rehabilitative treatment in patients with psychotic conditions, especially in the early phases of the disease. Our research group has implemented a new individualized rehabilitation programme for social cognition: the Social Cognition Individualized Activities Lab, SoCIAL. The pivotal study showed that this programme improves specifically social cognition abilities, even when compared to a standardised and validated rehabilitation programme such as the Social Skills And Neurocognitive Individualized Training (SSANIT). However, the improvement in social cognition did not translate in improvement in real-life functioning. Recently, another key aspect that plays a role in quality of life and real life functioning in people with schizophrenia has emerged, the narrative abilities. Available data confirm that this variable has a strong impact on social functioning and quality of life in patients with schizophrenia. Taking into account the above evidence, our group decided to implement a new version of the social cognitive remediation programme in order to overcome the limitations found during its pivotal study. The new SoCIAL programme is characterized by specific modules for training of social cognition and narrative abilities in patients with schizophrenia. The efficacy of this programme, compared to treatment as usual, in individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder will be assessed. The generalization of improvement to real-life functioning domains will also be evaluated in completers and in the intent-to-treat sample.
People with serious mental illness often experience difficulties with thinking skills like memory. These difficulties can make it harder to perform day-to-day activities. The purpose of this study is to test whether combining a type of non-invasive brain stimulation with computerized cognitive exercises is helpful in improving a specific type of memory skill in people who have mental health conditions. The study is a randomized clinical trial, meaning that participants will be randomly assigned to receive either 'active' or 'inactive' brain stimulation. All participants will complete computerized cognitive exercises, also known as cognitive training. Overall, participants will be in the study for 6-8 weeks. The study involves 10 visits to the clinic over 2-4 weeks for cognitive training and either active or inactive brain stimulation. Participants will also complete paper-and-pencil assessments at the beginning and end of treatment, and one month after treatment ends.
This is a single-blind randomized within-subject crossover design study that will be conducted in 2 phases. In Phase 1, up to 50 participants, after signing informed consent and determining eligibility, will undergo a baseline EEG and cognitive assessment. In Phase 2 participants will undergo tACS at IAF+2Hz, IAF-2Hz, and IAF during a double-flash illusion task in a randomized order. The tACS will be applied with a current of 1-2 mA (milliamperes) via two saline soaked electrode sponges (25 cm²) applied to the back of the head. The investigator's hypothesis is that participant's will perform better on the visual task while tACS is set to 2 Hz above their IAPF, relative to tACS set to 2 Hz below their IAPF.
For the present study, Investigators will examine the efficacy of active prefrontal anodal tDCS versus placebo (sham) interventions to treat WM dysfunction in schizophrenia. Investigators selected the prefrontal stimulation modality that proved most effective in enhancing high-load WM performance in single dose stimulation in healthy participants . The study employs a multi-stimulation approach, with 2 sessions per day for 5 consecutive days in the active treatment group (n=15) compared to a group that receives only sham stimulation (n=15). This preliminary approach is based upon findings of a recent study applying cathodal tDCS stimulation over left temporoparietal cortex (with left prefrontal anodal stimulation) for the treatment of persistent auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia. In a a recent study clinical benefits were maintained for at least 3 months following stimulation. In the present study, in addition to clinical outcome, researchers will evaluate whether similar improvement can be obtained with WM, EEG activity, and functional outcome (e.g., discharged from hospitalization following significant improvement or remission).
The effective treatment of schizophrenia is very challenging due to a number of factors. These include issues such as poor engagement with treatment plans and care providers, limited contacts with providers due to under-resourced health services, and the challenges inherent to schizophrenia symptoms. The outcomes of these problems include frequent, lengthy, and costly hospital readmissions, low quality of life, high levels of distress, and difficulties engaging in valued community roles. Digital Health technologies are a promising model to help address these problems. They are a low cost and accessible form of support and have not been substantively developed or studied for people with schizophrenia spectrum illnesses. In this study, the feasibility of one such technology that is in development will be tested: App4Independence (A4i). A4i provides customized coping prompts, peer-peer networking, and a portal that facilitates better provider engagement. This research will provide critical information in the development of this new technology to address a key problem in the field - how to enhance care in a resource-limited context where provider-patient contacts are brief, infrequent, and rely on in the moment recall and self-advocacy by patients. These findings will lay the groundwork for a larger program of research and software development that will (i) validate the technology across multiple sites and, (ii) catalyze engagement with healthcare systems and caregiver networks to scale-out access to this promising resource.
The study team will use components of the Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, Maintenance (RE-AIM) framework to compare Cognitive Adaptation Training (CAT) to Remotely delivered Cognitive Adaptation Training (R-CAT) 1-9 within a managed care organization (MCO), targeting members with serious mental illness (SMI) needing assistance with the regular taking of medication.
The proposed, three phase project will refine and test a first-ever care approach in SSA that combines LAI with a behavioral program specifically intended to promote medication adherence in chronic psychotic disorders (CPDs). In addition to the novel focus, innovative elements include: 1.) a manualized curriculum that targets specific barriers and facilitators to medication adherence in Tanzanians with CPD, 2.) targeting known, high-risk individuals with CPD (those who miss ≥20% of prescribed antipsychotic medication, and 3.) using existing injection clinic health workers to deliver the adherence promotion program. Strengths include the highly generalizable methods and use of LAIs that are available in low-resource settings.
This study aims to investigate the effects of the Switch intervention on motivation and associated processes and explore the dynamics between the processes. A single case approach is followed, with a pre-post and follow-up assessment design, and continuous ambulatory assessments (experience sampling method (ESM) and step count).
This is a definitive study to support the safety and efficacy evaluation of BXCL501 for the acute treatment of agitation in schizophrenia. The BXCL501-301 study is designed to characterize the efficacy, safety and tolerability of BXCL501 (sublingual film formulation of DEX, HCl) in agitation associated with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder or schizophreniform disorder.
Medication adherence is a challenge in all of medicine and is associated with multiple negative outcomes. Strategies to better measure and enhance adherence to medication are urgent and necessary to minimize unwanted health outcomes, hospitalizations, poorer quality of life and excessive costs for individuals, insurers and caregivers. Recently, behavioral economics-based approaches have emerged as a promising tool to address this unmet need, but its effectiveness in oral antipsychotic treatment remains to be assessed. For this project, investigators will use an app that offers financial incentives to increase compliance for patients with chronic diseases. Investigators intend to enroll 25 patients in a pilot project to assess feasibility of offering financial incentives to improve medication adherence in severe mental illness.