Cost-utility Study of a Group of Compensatory Cognitive Remediation in Schizophrenia

Significant cognitive impairment (executive functions, memory, attention) is common in schizophrenia affecting up to 80% of patients. But pharmacological treatments (typical and atypical antipsychotic) do not have impact on cognitive functioning. For over 20 years, alternative non-pharmacological therapeutics have been developed in schizophrenia. These techniques called cognitive remediation specifically target cognitive deficits. The first cognitive remediation available for patients was designed to stimulate new learning, or relearning, of cognitive tasks, and thus to improve certain deficient domains. These procedures were efficient in improving cognition as measured by neurocognitive tests but their impact on functioning and daily life was weak. In a second time, compensatory remediation has been developed. Compensatory approaches seek to make improvements in the patient's functioning by avoiding areas of impairment and recruiting other intact cognitive domains or by creating a supportive external environment. In recent meta-analysis compensatory remediation has larger effect-size than classical cognitive remediation, with an impact on patients psychosocial functioning. Recently, Dr E. Twamley (University of California) developed and tested a group-based, manualized, compensatory cognitive training intervention.

Compensatory cognitive training (CCT) is a low-tech, brief intervention and is easily transposable in community care. Our team translated this method into French. The investigators planned a cost -utility study between CCT and treatment as usual in schizophrenia patients with less than 10 years of evolution.