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Effectiveness of a day treatment program for negative symptoms in patients with schizophrenia
Dawid Kruk1, Aneta Kalisz2,3, Piotr Błądziński2,3
1Doctoral School of Medical and Health Sciences, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Cracow, Poland.
Objectives:
To evaluate the effectiveness of a day treatment program in reducing primary negative symptoms in people with schizophrenia and to identify predictors of treatment response.
Methods:
This study was conducted at the Day Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre for people suffering from psychosis. Forty-three participants were assessed using PANSS, BNSS, CDSS, MOCA and FAB scales before and after 3 months of treatment. The therapeutic program included individual and group psychotherapy, social skills training, psychoeducation, music therapy, movement therapy, art therapy, occupational therapy, therapeutic community meetings, family sessions, and therapeutic excursions.
Results:
Participants showed a significant decrease in negative symptoms and depressive symptoms following treatment. Improvement was observed in all five domains of negative symptoms. Regression analysis showed that intact motor programming skills were a significant predictor of improvement in negative symptoms. Improvement in insight correlated with better treatment outcomes.
Conclusions:
The day treatment program was effective in treating primary negative symptoms in all five domains. Further research with a larger sample size and a control group is needed.
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