Cognitive Remediation and Sheltered Employment in Schizophrenia (RemedRehab)

Hôpital le Vinatier

Status: Completed

Conditions: Chronic Schizophrenia

Treatments: Behavioral: RECOS (COgnitive REmediation for Schizophrenia); Behavioral: TAU (Treatment As Usual)

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01891929

2012-A01676-37

Details and patient eligibility

About

This study, driven on schizophrenic patients, is aimed at :

1. Measuring the efficiency of the cognitive remediation program RECOS (COgnitive REmediation in Schizophrenia) on the capacity of the patients suffering from schizophrenia to improve the integration in sheltered employment (ESAT and EA).

2. Comparing the efficiency of the program of cognitive remediation RECOS (RECOS arm) to the one of an usual program of coverage/care (TAU arm = Treatment As Usual) on integration in sheltered employment of patients suffering from schizophrenia.

3. Realizing a comparative analysis, in both arms, of :

   1. the number of working hours achieved in sheltered environment during the 6 months following the two programs (reported to the working time planned by the contract of employment)
   2. the duration of such employments in sheltered areas.

4. Estimating the impact of RECOS on the neuropsychological variables, the symptomatology, the consciousness of the disorders(insight), the quality of life and the social autonomy before the treatment (month M0), at the end of the treatment (month M3), and 6 months later (month M9), and looking for a correlation between the improvement of these parameters and sheltered employment.

5. Estimating the impact of cognitive remediation on integration in sheltered employment.

Enrollment: 79 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 50 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Age from 18 to 50 years.
• Schizophrenia according to the criteria of the DSM-IV-TR.
• Project of entry to ESAT or to EA in the 6 weeks which follow.
• IQ > 70 (F-NART).
• Stable symptomatology during the month preceding the inclusion.
• Psychotropic treatment unchanged during the month preceding the inclusion (change no more than 25 % posology).
• Overdrawn performances in at least one of the 6 functions estimated by the kit of neuropsychological tests.
• French mother tongue.
• Informed and signed consent by the patient.
• Agreement of the guardian (for protected adults).
• Membership in a national insurance scheme.

Exclusion criteria

• Dependence and recent abuses of cannabis (> 2 / week) or in any other substance (according to the criteria of the DSM-IV-TR), except tobacco.
• Neurological disorders of vascular, infectious or neurodegenerative origin; dyschromatopsie.
• Taking of medicine with somatic tropism having a cerebral or psychic impact (eg: corticoids).
• Simultaneous participation to any other program of remediation targeting the neurocognitive deficits.
• Resistance to neuroleptic.
• Reading and writing not acquired.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

---

79 participants in 2 patient groups

RECOS

Experimental group

Description:

The RECOS program (COgnitive REmediation for Schizophrenia) was designed by SBT Company and adapted by Vianin et al (2007) for specific use in schizophrenia. It includes computer based and paper and pencil exercises that target 6 main cognitive functions (selective attention; verbal memory; visuo-spatiale attention and memory, working memory, reasoning, and speed of execution) which have been recommended by the MATRICS consensus. Each exercise has 10 difficulty levels. Allocation of the training modules in RECOS is determined according to the standard scores obtained in the comprehensive neuropsychological assessment. Each patient participates in the module corresponding to his/her most altered cognitive area.

Treatment:

Behavioral: RECOS (COgnitive REmediation for Schizophrenia)

TAU (Treatment as Usual)

Active Comparator group

Description:

The treatment of the group TAU (Treatment As Usual) will consist of the usual care proposed by every service of the various inquiring centers involved. No additional session will be proposed.

Treatment:

Behavioral: TAU (Treatment As Usual)