Do Patients Taking Aripiprazole Learn More in Vocational Skills Training Than Patients Taking Olanzapine?

Many schizophrenia outpatients have cognitive deficits and poor vocational functioning. There is evidence from randomized controlled trials that vocational skills training is important in improving vocational role functioning for schizophrenia patients. However, it has become clear that cognitive impairments limit the ability of patients to benefit from skills training approaches. Recent research demonstrates that patients switched from olanzapine to aripiprazole improve in terms of verbal learning. Verbal learning has been found to be a strong predictor of multiple domains of community outcome. It is unclear whether the cognitive benefits of switching to aripiprazole extend to improve learning of vocational skills. This study examines whether aripiprazole can improve the ability to benefit from expensive rehabilitation programs focused on skill-building. Specifically, the study examines whether patients who switch from olanzapine to aripiprazole learn more and benefit more from a brief vocational skills program than patients who remain on olanzapine. Specific aims are as follows: (1) we hypothesize that patients on aripiprazole will demonstrate better scores on tests of cognitive functioning following twelve weeks of medication treatment than patients on olanzapine and (2) we hypothesize that patients on aripiprazole will have significantly higher scores on vocational performance following a brief (2-day) vocational training and assessment session than those on olanzapine. Furthermore, we hypothesize that these gains will be maintained following one week of non-exposure to the trained vocational tasks.