creating live interactions to mitigate barriers

Conditions: Schizophrenia

Summary: this study is a validation study to evaluate the acceptability, feasibility and impact of a mobile psychosocial intervention to enhance social functioning in people with schizophrenia.

the goal of this study is to employ an innovative and evidence-based mobile intervention that includes a neuroscience-informed computerized social cognition training program, a health insurance portability and accountability act-compliant videoconferencing tool that we will use for psychoeducational group therapy, and peer-to-peer secure social networking for individuals with schizophrenia, in a parallel arm, double-blind, randomized, controlled clinical trial to assess feasibility and initial efficacy, to investigate the intervention's effects on symptoms, social cognition, and quality of life, and to prepare for a large-scale efficacy trial in adults with schizophrenia.

Eligibility criteria:
inclusion criteria: * participants must have a clinical diagnosis of schizophrenia as defined by the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (dsm-5) and confirmed by the structured clinical interview for dsm-5 (scid) * participant must be clinically stable (outpatient status for at least 2 months) at time of screening * participants taking psychiatric medications must be on a stable medication regimen for greater than or equal to 4 weeks prior to screening * participant must be a fluent english speaker * participant must have adequate sensorimotor capacity to perform the program, including visual capacity adequate to read from a computer screen at a normal viewing distance, auditory capacity adequate to understand normal speech, and motor capacity adequate to control a computer mouse * participants must be able to use ios mobile applications exclusion criteria: * participants with unstable and/or untreated conditions that may affect cognition, including substance abuse/dependence disorders, cardiovascular, endocrine, neurologic disorder, epilepsy, recent hospitalization, ongoing chemotherapy or other cancer treatment * participant has a history of mental retardation, pervasive developmental disorder, head trauma, traumatic brain injury, or other neurological disorder that impairs cognition * participants who have had psychiatric hospitalizations in the 8 weeks prior to randomization * participants had significant medication or clinical status changes, or adjustment in their antipsychotic treatment in the 4 weeks prior to randomization * participants with active suicidal ideations and/or behaviors as measured by the columbia-suicide severity rating scale (c-ssrs) * participants showing signs of intoxication due to current substance abuse (including alcohol and/or illegal drugs) during any in person visit * participants with problems performing assessments or comprehending or following spoken instructions * participants enrolled in a concurrent clinical trial involving an investigational pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, medical device, or behavioral treatment that could affect the outcome of this study * participant is using computer-based cognitive training programs or has used it within a month of the consent date