A Pilot Study of Group Administered Metacognitive Training (MCT) for Schizophrenia Patients in a High-Security Forensic Setting: Subjective Training Success and Health-Related Quality of Life

Abstract

Metacognitive group training (MCT) for psychosis has showed promising effects on positive symptoms of schizophrenia, even in forensic settings. Its effect on health-related quality of life (HRQOL) or patient perspective of it has not been studied before in violent inpatients. This pilot study investigated the patient perspective of the MCT, assessed the intervention’s effects on HRQOL compared with the control group, and compared the patients’ HRQOL with that of the general population. Twenty male violent inpatients with schizophrenia participated and were randomized to the eight-session MCT or to treatment as usual. The participants’ HRQOL was assessed at baseline, at posttreatment, and 3 and 6 months later. Also, participants appraised the MCT immediately after treatment. The training satisfaction was high and compliance was good. On average, the patients’ HRQOL was significantly worse than in the general population and MCT did not have any effect on it, positive or adverse. Special efforts to improve patients’ HRQOL should be made.