Effect of mindfulness on vocational rehabilitation outcomes in stable phase schizophrenia.

Abstract

This report describes the results of a randomized controlled feasibility study of the Mindfulness Intervention for Rehabilitation and Recovery in Schizophrenia (MIRRORS). MIRRORS is an adaptation of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction designed to help persons with schizophrenia to persist and perform better at work. Thirty-four participants with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder who were engaged in outpatient services were enrolled in a vocational rehabilitation program that included a job placement and then were randomized to receive MIRRORS (n ϭ 18) or Intensive Support (n ϭ 16) over a period of 16 weeks. The number of hours worked was recorded weekly and job performance was assessed monthly using the Work Behavior Inventory. Results of t-tests revealed that participants in the MIRRORS group worked a significantly greater number of hours and performed significantly better at the end of the 4-month intervention than those in the Intensive Support condition. Repeated-measures analysis of variance revealed that the MIRRORS group worked more hours each week on average and that this difference increased over time as well as having generally better work performance compared with the Intensive Support group. Results suggest a link between MIRRORS and higher levels of work performance and persistence in people with schizophrenia. Further research is indicated to evaluate MIRRORS in a fully powered randomized controlled trial.

The effectiveness of mindfulness-based intervention for people with schizophrenia: a systematic review

“…In the six randomized controlled studies, two were pre-and post-test design 20,21 and the other studies (n= 4) [17][18][19]22 used repeated-measures design with varying follow-up periods from 6 months 17 to 2 years 22 .…”

“…About 1,250 records were removed after screening the relevance of article titles and abstracts to the topic of the review. The full texts of the remaining 21 studies were reviewed and finally 15 studies were excluded after full review, leaving behind only six studies [17][18][19][20][21][22] to be included for this review. Details of the searching process are shown in Figure 1.…”

Proceedings of the Iii International Scientific and Practical Conference “Psychological Health of the Person: Life Resource and Life Potential”

“…L.W. Davis and his colleagues demonstrated the effectiveness of mindfulness-based technique in the rehabilitation and recovery of patients with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder (Davis et al, 2015). The participants who had learned the practice of mindfulness showed higher operability after leaving the hospital, in comparison with groups of intensive support.…”

“…The participants who had learned the practice of mindfulness showed higher operability after leaving the hospital, in comparison with groups of intensive support. The difference between the practitioners of mindfulness-based technique and the patients who received a standard assistance increased over time: those who were practicing meditation demonstrated the increase in productivity, efficiency and motivation for professional activity (Davis et al, 2015).…”

Contextual Cognitive-Behavioral Therapies Across the Psychosis Continuum

“…Although we have witnessed a change in the intervention paradigm (with different techniques being used with different objectives) and some different outcomes have emerged in efficacy studies (such as symptom believability, quality of life), nevertheless the majority of studies are still focused on objective aspects of recovery such as symptom reduction (e.g., Perich, Manicavasagar, Mitchell, Ball, & Hadzi-Pavlovic, 2013;White et al, 2011), diminishing symptom impact (e.g., Bach & Hayes, 2002;Williams et al, 2008), and functioning (e.g., social, work -which can be conceptualized as a reflection of psychosocial deficits or goals, also an objective aspect of recovery according to Silverstein & Bellack, 2008;e.g., Chien & Lee, 2013;Davis et al, 2015).…”