Effectiveness of social skill program for social performance among schizophrenia patients selected tertiary care Hospital, Coimbatore. India

Abstract

Problem considered: Social skills training helps improve interpersonal relationship in schizophrenia patients. However, there is a lacuna of studies in India reporting the efficacy of such training. Hence, we assessed the effectiveness of social skills program (SSP) among schizophrenia patients using Vellore assessment of social performance (VASP) scale and evaluated the association of social performance pre- and post-test with demographic variables. Methods: This study was conducted on 40 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia admitted to in-patient psychiatric ward of a tertiary care hospital in south India. They were assigned to two groups of 20 each, where one underwent SSP intervention for 7 days, and the other routine care. Results: In the routine care group, majority of the patients had poor skills both pre-test (70%), and post-test (40%, p = 0.083), but in the interventional group, majority of the patients exhibited poor skills (60%) pre-test and post SSP majority of them scored significantly higher (85%, p = 0.022) VASP scores. Mean scores were significantly different with age (F = 4.130, p = 0.01) in intervention and with duration of illness (F = 3.748, p = 0.045) in routine care groups. Conclusion: SSP effectively improved social performance among schizophrenia in-patients, and can be implemented as part of routine care therapy for the holistic treatment of these patients.

Keywords

• Assessment
• Intervention
• Schizophrenia
• Social functioning
• Social skills training