The purpose of this study is to assess the effectiveness of Meta-Cognitive Training (EMC) in people with a brief psychotic disorder, especially positive symptoms. The secondary objectives would be to assess the effect of EMC on metacognition (cognitive distortions and deficits in theory of mind), psychosocial functioning and quality of life, neuropsychological functioning and gender, as well as determine the changes produced by EMC in the insight of each session and the maintenance of the effects of EMC program at six months of treatment.
The study is a randomized clinical trial in which a group will receive the Meta-Cognitive Training (EMC) and a control group will receive a journal workshop. The evaluator will be blind to the group that owns the patients included. The total simple will be of 122 people with a psychotic disorder, less than 5 years of evolution and a score at or above 3 on the PANSS during the last year. Patients should be attended in one of the next services: Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu, Corporació Sanitària Parc Taulí, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Hospital Clínic de Valencia, Centre d´Higiene Mental de les Corts, Institut d´Assitència Sanitària Girona, Servicio Andaluz de Granada, Málaga y Jaén. The assessment was performed at baseline, at the end of treatment and six month follow-up. The assessment includes: psychopathology and insight ( PANSS, PSYRATS, PDI, GAF, BDI, BCIS, Sumd), meta-cognition (jumping to conclusions, IPSAQ, TCI), neuropsychology (WCST, TMT, CPT-II, TAVEC, WAIS) and social functioning and quality of life (EFS, DAS-SV, SLDS). The insight will be assessed at the final of each session (BCIS). The treatment and control group consist of 8 weekly sessions of 45-60 minutes with a total of 4 to 8 patients per group. The EMC group material is translated and validated in Spanish by investigators of the team. The primary analysis variable is the difference between the scores of experimental and control group in the symptoms scales (especially positive). Secondary outcomes will change in other assessments of social functioning, metacognition (cognitive distortions and theory of mind) and neuropsychological variables. Were analyzed using regression and ANCOVA methods with SPSS 19.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
PANSS. Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale
The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS)(Kay et al., 1987; Peralta and Cuesta, 1994) measures 30 symptoms on a scale of 1-7, with higher scores indicating greater psychopathology. The PANSS contains three sub-scales: positive, negative and general symptoms.
Time frame: baseline, 2 months (post-treatment) and 6 months of follow-up
PSYRATS. Psychotic Symptoms Rating Scale
The PSYRATS (Haddock et al, 1999; Gonzalez et al, 2003). This scale assess delusions in 6 items.
Time frame: baseline, 2 months (post-treatment) and 6 months of follow-up
Jumping to conclusions
Three different computer tasks were used in the study. In Task 1, jars contained balls of two different colors; in one of them the proportion was 85 black versus 15 orange balls and in the other the ratio was reversed. Task 2 was the same as Task 1 but with a proportion of 60:40 in each jar. Finally, Task 3 was similar to Task 2 but instead of balls, the jars contained positive or negative comments with a proportion of 60:40. The patients had to decide which to jar belonged the extracted balls or comments. At all times the participants had information about the balls previously extracted, in order to control the effect of memory. The subjects could remove as many balls as needed to make their final decision (Garety et al., 2005). JTC was considered as taking a decision after extracting 1 or 2 balls.
Time frame: baseline, 2 months (post-treatment) and 6 months of follow-up
BCIS. Beck Cognitive and Insight Scale
The Beck Cognitive Insight Scale (BCSI; Beck et al., 2004; Gutierrez-Zotes et al., 2012) is a self-registering measure of 15 items which evaluates how the patients assess their own judgement. It has two dimensions; self-reflection (R) (9 items), and self-certainty (C) (6 items). A compound index of cognitive insight is obtained as the subtraction of self-certainty from self-reflection (R-C).
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Masking
SINGLE
Enrollment
122
Time frame: baseline, 2 months (post-treatment) and 6 months of follow-up. Moreover in the intervention group this scale was assessed at the end of each session
IPSAQ. Internal, Personal and Situational Attribution Questionnaire.
The scale assess the attributional style in 32 situations.
Time frame: baseline, 2 months (post-treatment) and 6 months of follow-up.
Hinking Task
The Scale assess Theory of Mind. For the porpouse of the study we selected 3 different situations in each assessment
Time frame: baseline, 2 months (post-treatment) and 6 months of follow-up.
TCI scale "Test de Creencias Irracionales"
This scale assess irrational beliefs in ten subscales:Need for acceptance by others, High self-expectations, blame, Intolerance to frustration, Worry and anxiety, Emotional irresponsibility, Avoidance of problems, dependency, helplessness, perfectionism.
Time frame: baseline, 2 months (post-treatment) and 6 months of follow-up.