Brief Hospitalization for Schizophrenia: Strategies to Improve Treatment Outcome

Brief Hospitalization for Schizophrenia: Strategies to Improve Treatment Outcome

The goal of this research program is to implement a series of psychoeducational training classes designed to teach individuals with schizophrenia the importance of medication treatment, how to identify and manage medication side effects, and how to make appointments and emergency plans. The skills taught to the research subjects will lead to demonstrable increases (compared to the control group) in adherence to both the prescribed medication regimen and scheduled outpatient appointments and thereby cause a decrease (again compared to the control group) in rehospitalization rates and bed-days during subsequent twelve months following the intervention. A secondary objective of this work is that if the CREP program is successful and/or illness education is effective, the data will be able to disseminated throughout the VISN 22 via the recently awarded Mental Illness Research Education and Clinical Center (MIRECC) program.

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Age 18-65 years of age.
2. DSM IV diagnosis of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder.
3. Competent to give informed consent.
4. Previously participated in "Brief Hospitalization for Schizophrenia: Strategies to Improve Treatment Outcome" Principal Investigator. Donna Wirshing, M.D.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Physical or cognitive impairment of such severity as to adversely affect the validity of clinical ratings or impair capacity to give informed consent.
2. History of substantial substance dependence 6 months prior to the study.
3. Patients at high risk of suicide or other directed violence.