La rehabilitación cognitiva para pacientes con esquizofrenia de larga data: un desafío para los equipos de salud

Abstract

Introduction: The differences in the scores observed in the attention, memory and executive functions regarding the use of a cognitive rehabilitation program in patients with long-standing schizophrenia are analysed. Method: The participants were selected through a nonprobability sampling with a purposive sample of critical cases (n = 31). It is a causal research, which considers a quasi-experimental design of two groups (experimental and control) with pre and post-intervention measures. To measure the variables, the TMT A & B, WAIS, ROCF and the Stroop P & C tests were administered. Results: The intervention had a clinically significant impact on the domains of visual spatial attention and the executive function (speed of verbal information processing), given by the differences caused by the post-intervention means. There were only statistically significant differences of means in the post-test scores for the Rey-Osterrieth complex figure test, in the Memory-Time variable, whose treatment has a low impact and false negative rates higher than initially expected. At the same time, regarding the variability of the scores, there were not statistically significant differences for any of the variables analysed. Conclusions: Training the identification of symbols, using memories of details of projected images and simple words association, in a group-competition context with playful elements, have a clinically relevant impact on the rehabilitation of the visual spatial attention and the speed of verbal information processing of patients with long-standing schizophrenia. The statistically significant differences of means require to be considered with care.