32 THE IMPACT OF VISUAL COMMUNICATION ON COGNITIVE FUNCTION REHABILITATION IN PATIENTS WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA
Authors: Xu Ming , Dian* Yu 
Published: February 2025

Abstract

Background
Schizophrenia is a persistent mental disorder often accompanied by cognitive dysfunction, which not only causes great physical and mental pain to patients, but also imposes a heavy burden on families and society. Visual cognition is an important component of cognitive function in patients with schizophrenia, which constructs vision and cognition of the external world through the transmission of visual information flow in brain regions. Schizophrenia patients have difficulties in visual processing, especially in contrast sensitivity. Visual communication refers to the act or process of conveying information or engaging in aesthetic activities through visual communication elements, including text, graphics, and animation. Studies have shown that the application of visual communication elements in medical spaces can directly elicit psychological responses from patients and help them actively cooperate with treatment. Therefore, the study will explore the impact of visual communication on the cognitive function rehabilitation outcomes of patients with schizophrenia.

Methods
The study selected 82 patients with schizophrenia admitted to a tertiary hospital in a certain city from 2019 to 2022 as the research subjects, and divided them into an observation group and a control group using a random number table method, with 41 patients in each group. The control group received routine treatment for schizophrenia, while the observation group received routine treatment for schizophrenia in a rehabilitation environment containing different visual elements. The experiment lasts for 16 weeks. Before and after treatment, patients’ cognitive function was evaluated using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), with a total score of 30 points. Score is directly proportional to cognitive function. And the World Health Organization Quality of Life Brief (WHOQOL-BREF) was used to evaluate the patient’s quality of life, with a total score of 140 points. The higher the score, the better the patient’s quality of life.

Results
The MoCA and WHOQOL-BREF scores of the two groups of patients before and after treatment are shown in Table 1. From Table 1, it can be seen that the MoCA score of the observation group before treatment was 15.67 ± 3.35, and the WHOQOL-BREF score was 74.63 ± 10.12, with no significant difference compared to the control group (P&gt;0.05). After 16 weeks of treatment, the MoCA score of the observation group patients increased to 23.44 ± 5.41, and the WHOQOL-BREF score increased to 109.04 ± 15.75, both significantly higher than those of the control group patients (P&lt;0.05).

Discussion
Schizophrenia is a common chronic disease in clinical practice, and patients require continuous medication treatment. The results indicate that combining visual communication in the treatment of schizophrenia can enrich patients’ lives, stimulate their enthusiasm, effectively improve the rehabilitation effect of cognitive function in schizophrenia patients, and enhance their quality of life. The research results contribute to further improving the rehabilitation effect of cognitive function in patients with schizophrenia.