Reading Group Rehabilitation for Patients with Psychosis: A Randomized Controlled Study

Abstract

Objective: Group reading activities are often reported to be helpful in a variety of psychiatric conditions. However, data on the effects of structured reading rehabilitation activities, in both hospital and community settings for patients with psychosis, are still scarce. Our aim was to investigate the effects on clinical status, disability, psychosocial functioning and cognitive functioning of a structured group reading activity, in a sample of hospitalized patients with psychosis. Methods: We enrolled 41 consecutive patients with psychosis and randomly assigned them to a structured group reading programme. For all included patients, we psychometrically evaluated clinical symptomatology, psychosocial functioning and disability, as well as cognitive functioning. All evaluations were repeated at a 6-month follow-up. Repeated-measure multiple analyses of variance were used to test the effect of the group reading activities on the clinical, psychosocial and cognitive measures. Results: We found that, after 6 months from discharge, structured group reading activities induced a statistically significant improvement of cognitive (p < 0.007) and psychosocial (p < 0.008) functioning in patients with psychosis and reduced their disability (p < 0.005), with respect to the control group. Furthermore, such programmes are easy to implement and were perceived as extremely 'interesting' and 'useful' by patients with psychosis. Conclusions: Rehabilitation programmes focusing on group reading activities should be regarded as a valid psychosocial rehabilitation tool for psychotic patients with severe mental disability.

Looking Beyond Traditional Bibliotherapy: A New View

“…In 2013, a quantitative study, and the first known independent randomised controlled trials, evaluating the 'Get Into Reading' model was conducted in Italy, with 41 hospitalised participants with psychosis. Even though the sample size was small, results showed significant improvement in the wellbeing and symptoms of the participants (Volpe et al, 2013).…”

Short-Term Psychiatric Rehabilitation in Major Depressive and Bipolar Disorders: Neuropsychological-Psychosocial Outcomes

“…Musical activities, that involve a wide bilateral network of brain areas related to attention, semantic processing, memory and learning,31 are proved to enhance cognitive functions both in healthy subjects32 and in dyslexia,33 dementia34 and recovery from stroke 31. Group reading activities have been reported to improve cognitive and psychosocial functioning in hospitalized patients with psychosis35 and group conversation, art/drama sessions and recreational activities have been shown to ameliorate the neuropsychological performance in schizophrenic patients 36…”

Treating symptoms or assisting human development: Can different environmental conditions affect personal development for patients with severe mental illness? A qualitative study

“…The students also described that some of the theoretical and philosophical topics were important for them, and that reading about people in different life situations, for example, reading philosophy and history, gave them a broader view about their own lives and their problems. Dowrick et al [ 26 ] found that attending reading groups and the content of the literature has significant effects on the outcomes of patients with depression [ 26 ], and reading groups have improved cognitive and psychosocial functioning of patients with psychosis [ 27 ]. This may indicate that not only participating in an activity but also the content of the activity might have affected the students.…”