Plain English Summary
Background and study aims
Schizophrenia is a severe long-term mental health condition. It causes a range of different psychological symptoms. The traditional general practitioner-based model (community-based rehabilitation [CBR]) for schizophrenia patients in China, lacks content-rich, useful, and theoretically-based rehabilitation means. However, according to previous research, Metacognitive Training (MCT) may be effective in the community for schizophrenic patients. The present study aims to compare a combined intervention consisting of MCT and CBR with the control group receiving CBR only.
Who can participate?
Patients aged 18-65 with schizophrenia
What does the study involve?
Participants are randomly allocated to the intervention group or the control group. The intervention group receives CBR plus Metacognitive Training (MCT) The MCT consists of 8 modules, each session lasts about 60 minutes, and the whole course lasts for 8 weeks, and a gift worth $5 is given to the patient after each session. The control group receives a standard CBR in China for mental illness patients for 8 weeks. GPs first work with patients and their respective families to develop an individualized rehabilitation plan in the first week and then follow up once during the project in the form of a phone call or home visits. The total duration of the intervention is 8 weeks, and 1 week for the follow-up.
What are the possible benefits and risks of participating?
The course may improve the delusions of the patients.
Where is the study run from?
Ningbo Yinzhou District Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China)
When is the study starting and how long is it expected to run for?
August 2016 to December 2018
Who is funding the study?
Ningbo Medical Science and Technology Plan Project (China)
Who is the main contact?
Dr Qi Chen
47229942@qq.com
Trial website
Contact information
Type
Scientific
Primary contact
Mr Qi Chen
ORCID ID
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7186-8593
Contact details
Room 2505
No.1221
XueShi Rd
YinZhou District
Ningbo
315000
China
+86 (0)57487418723
47229942@qq.com
Additional identifiers
EudraCT number
Nil known
ClinicalTrials.gov number
Nil known
Protocol/serial number
2016c05
Study information
Scientific title
Metacognitive training for schizophrenia patients in the community
Acronym
Study hypothesis
The present study aims to compare a combined intervention consisting of MCT and CBR with the control group receiving CBR only. The study goes further to confirm the superiority of MCT over CBR for the improvement of delusion. Thus, decreasing the possibilities of violent acts committed by these patients in the community. The researchers also expect some aspects of the quality of life of these schizophrenic patients to improve. Finally, to find evidence of MCT feasibility on community rehabilitation, and for the government to tailor the community services by taking the MCT as a regular complement strategy to the CBR.
Ethics approval
Approved 20/11/2016, YinZhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Research Ethics Board (No.1221, XueShi Rd, YinZhou District, Ningbo, China; +86 (0)57487418723; yzcdcreb@163.com), ref: 2016-11
Study design
interventional randomized controlled assessor-blinded trial
Primary study design
Interventional
Secondary study design
Randomised controlled trial
Trial setting
Community
Trial type
Quality of life
Patient information sheet
No participant information sheet available
Condition
Schizophrenia
Intervention
The researchers use a completely random method for grouping. First, they number the subjects according to the order in which they are recruited. Then, they use the random number table method to give each subject a random number in sequence. Finally, they sort the subjects by the size of random numbers. They assign the first 60 cases to the intervention group, and the latter 60 cases to the control.
The intervention group receives CBR plus Metacognitive Training (MCT), Chinese ver.6.2 (see https://clinical-neuropsychology.de/metakognitives_training_psychose/). The MCT consists of 8 modules, which covers six cognitive and social biases (attribution biases, jumping to conclusions, belief inflexibility, overconfidence in errors, the theory of mind deficits, and depressive cognitive schemata). Each session lasts about 60 minutes, and the whole course lasts for 8 weeks, and a gift worth $5 is given to the patient after each session.
The control group receives a standard CBR in China for mental illness patients (see http://www.gov.cn/gongbao/content/2018/content_5338247.htm) for 8 weeks. GPs first work with patients and their respective families to develop an individualized rehabilitation plan at the first week and then follow up once during the project in the form of a phone call or home visits. The rehabilitation plan in CBR consists of six aspects, including medication training, relapse identification, physical management, life skills training, social skills training, and occupational rehabilitation training etc.
The total duration of the intervention is 8 weeks, and 1 week for the follow-up.
Intervention type
Behavioural
Phase
Drug names
Primary outcome measure
Symptom severity of delusion assessed with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and Psychotic Symptom Rating Scales (PSYRATS) at baseline and the end of the intervention (8 weeks)
Secondary outcome measures
Quality of life measured using Schizophrenia Quality of Life Scale (SQLS) at baseline and the end of the intervention (8 weeks)
Overall trial start date
01/08/2016
Overall trial end date
01/12/2018
Reason abandoned (if study stopped)
Eligibility
Participant inclusion criteria
1. Age 18-65
2. Diagnosis of schizophrenia in DSM-IV
3. Total PANNS score 50-120
Participant type
Patient
Age group
Adult
Gender
Both
Target number of participants
120
Total final enrolment
124
Participant exclusion criteria
Psychoactive substances and substance abuse over the last 6 months
Recruitment start date
01/01/2017
Recruitment end date
01/12/2017
Locations
Countries of recruitment
China
Trial participating centre
Ningbo Yinzhou District Center for Disease Control and Prevention
No.1221
XueShi Rd
YinZhou District
Ningbo
315000
China
Sponsor information
Organisation
Ningbo Municipal Health Bureau
Sponsor details
22 Northwest Street
Haishu District
Ningbo
315010
China
+86 (0)57487362555
13777142531@163.com
Sponsor type
Government
Website
Funders
Funder type
Government
Funder name
Ningbo Medical Science and Technology Plan Project (2016C05)
Alternative name(s)
Funding Body Type
Funding Body Subtype
Location
Results and Publications
Publication and dissemination plan
Planned publication in a high-impact peer-reviewed journal
IPD sharing statement
Since the survey subjects are schizophrenic patients, most of the patients signed a privacy protection agreement before the project started in order to protect their privacy. However, the researchers can still provide the original questionnaire records and database of some patients when necessary. Dr Lifang Ren (13777142531@163.com) would be contacted for access to the datasets. The type of data can be Excel or others. The data will become available after 01/12/2020 for 1 year. Data requesters need to apply to Ningbo Municipal Health Bureau and Yinzhou District Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and submit data analysis plans only for scientific usage. Consent from all the participants was obtained and all consent documents have been sealed according to the requirements of project file management, and can be inquired whenever needed.
Intention to publish date
01/12/2021
Participant level data
Available on request
Basic results (scientific)
Publication list
2021 results in https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33441093/ (added 15/01/2021)
Publication citations
Additional files
- ISRCTN17333276_PROTOCOL.pdf Uploaded 12/08/2020