USS Training to Improve Social Function in People With Psychosis

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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Psychotic spectrum disorders (PSD) are associated with poor social function. By doing this study, the investigators hope to learn which of two different types of 2-month long training courses is more effective in improving day-to-day interactions and quality of life.

Detailed Description
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Participants will be randomly assigned to one of the two training courses. All participants will be asked to fill out questionnaires, engage in interviews, and complete paper and pencil tasks at the beginning of the study, at the halfway point of the training course (1 month), and end of the training course (2 months), and another 2 months later. One training focuses on how to make good judgments about what other people may be thinking or feeling in social situations, and why people might act in certain ways in different situations. The other training focuses on different strategies for handling everyday problems and stressors. Both trainings are done in one-on-one sessions with a research staff member. There will be 16-20 training sessions, each about 45-60 minutes long. The investigators will ask participants to attend 2 training sessions per week, so the total training time should be about 2 months.

Official Title
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Understanding Social Situations (USS): Training to Improve Social Function in People With Psychosis

Conditions
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Psychosis

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: USS
* Behavioral: MovingForward


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Veteran with diagnosis of psychotic disorder (e.g. schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, delusional disorder, psychosis NOS, etc); psychiatrically stable (30 or more days since last hospitalization/change in psychiatric medication) fluent in English able to provide legal written informed consent Exclusion Criteria: current substance use disorder developmental disability severe, uncorrected auditory/visual impairment diagnosis of medical or neurological illness known to impair brain function including dementia, presence of seizures, history of head trauma with loss of consciousness > 1hr, or clear cognitive sequelae from other illness or injury currently enrolled in another treatment study targeting, or expected to impact, functioning.

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 18 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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No

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Treatment
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Single


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: USS<br>social cognitive training | Behavioral: USS<br>* social cognitive training<br>|
| Active Comparator: MovingForward<br>problem solving training | Behavioral: MovingForward<br>* problem solving training<br>|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Social Functioning Scale (SFS) Change | self-report measure of social functioning | pre-training, mid-training (1 month), post-training (2 months), follow-up (4 months) | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Social Skills Performance Assessment (SSPA) Change | social interaction skill role-play | pre-training, post-training (2 months), follow-up (4 months) | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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psychosis, social function, social cognition