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Evaluating a Novel Mobile App for Social Cognition in Psychosis

Not Applicable
Completed
Conditions
Schizophrenia; Psychosis
Interventions
Behavioral: Social Cognition Group
Device: Novel Mobile App
Registration Number
NCT04260763
Lead Sponsor
King's College London
Brief Summary

To develop, and then evaluate a mobile phone app to deliver therapy homework activities between group sessions (social cognition intervention) in individuals with psychosis. The investigators are interested in whether offering homework via an app is a) feasible, and b) acceptable.

The investigators will also assess whether there is an initial indication that offering homework via the app improves outcomes following the group therapy.

Detailed Description

This study is a pilot, feasibility trial of a clinical intervention.

The investigators will initially pilot the app with three clinical participants, who will be asked to use the app for a period of three days and provide feedback as to whether there are any difficulties with usability, glitches, display, etc.

Two therapy groups will then be run consecutively. The therapy delivered will be a modified version of Group Training for Social Cognition in Psychosis (GRASP). Both groups will receive their homework tasks delivered via an app. Participants will undergo an assessment before and after the therapy, and a follow up interview as detailed in the measures section below. Primary objective: To evaluate a mobile app to deliver therapy homework between sessions of a social cognition therapy group for individuals with psychosis. The investigators are interested in whether offering homework via an app is a) feasible, and b) acceptable.

Secondary objective: To assess whether there is an initial indication that our intervention improves social cognition skills.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
COMPLETED
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
14
Inclusion Criteria
  • A diagnosis on the psychosis spectrum (using either DSM 5, DSM-IV, or ICD-10 [F20-F29])
  • Age 18-65 years
  • Good command of the English language
  • Premorbid IQ of over 70
  • Owns a smartphone or willing to use a study smartphone for the required period
  • Likely to benefit from social cognition intervention as assessed by clinical team [for intervention part].
Exclusion Criteria

Lacks capacity to give informed consent to participate in research

  • Poses significant risk to self or others
  • Inability to understand verbal or written English (i.e. inability to understand information sheet or requires an interpreter).
  • High levels of psychotic symptoms which precludes meaningful participation
  • Unsuitable to attend groups (group-therapy part only)

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
SINGLE_GROUP
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
Social Cognition GroupSocial Cognition GroupSocial Cognition Group
Social Cognition GroupNovel Mobile AppSocial Cognition Group
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Semi-Structured Qualitative interview: Service user acceptabilityEnd of therapy (4 weeks)

Service user satisfaction as assessed by qualitative interview.

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Bell Lysaker Emotion Recognition TaskEnd of therapy (4 weeks)

Measures of affect recognition. . Participants are invited to watch 21 videos lasting ten seconds each, of a male actor displaying seven different emotions: happy, sad, afraid, surprised, angry, disgusted or no emotion, and then identify which emotion they think it being portrayed. This is the emotion perception measure recommended by the Social Cognition Psychometric Evaluation (SCOPE) group for studies evaluating social cognition interventions

Empathy QuotientEnd of therapy (4 weeks)

Measure of empathising abilities/emotional intelligence. This can be viewed as a more 'global' measure of social abilities as opposed to domain specific (i.e. emotion perception, theory of mind). This is a 22-item self-report measure, and takes approximately 6 minutes to administer.

Work and Social Adjustment ScaleEnd of therapy (4 weeks)

Measure of Community Functioning. This is a five item self-report measure which asks participants how much their mental health problems effect their ability to work, manage their home, engage in leisure activities and have social relationships, using a nine-point scale (from 0 - not at all, to 8- very much so). Additionally, participants are asked how likely they feel this is to change in the future using the same scale.

Ambiguous Intentions Hostility TaskEnd of therapy (4 weeks)

Measure of attributional bias. Participants are read five, hypothetical negative situations with ambiguous causes, asked to imagine that this is happening to them, and then come up with an explanation for how the situation occurred. Participants are asked whether the character in the story was acting purposefully, how angry they feel, and how much they blame the character, using Likert type responses. This measure takes approximately 6 minutes to administer.

Hinting TaskEnd of therapy (4 weeks)

Measure of Theory of Mind. The participants are read ten short passages portraying an interaction between two people, at the end of which one character drops a hint. The participant is asked what the character really meant, as a way to assess how well they can infer meaning from indirect speech. This is the measure for theory of mind/mental state attribution recommended by SCOPE. This measure takes approximately 6 minutes to administer.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

King's College London

🇬🇧

London, United Kingdom

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