Psychotherapy Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Psychotherapy, including details on psychiatry, psychoanalysis, methods, outcomes.

Best practices: The development of the Social Cognition and Interaction Training program for schizophrenia spectrum disorders.

Penn DL, Roberts DL, Combs D, Sterne A

Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Davie Hall, CB#3270, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3270, USA. dpenn@email.unc.edu

This column describes the development of a treatment, the Social Cognition and Interaction Training (SCIT) program, a group-based intervention delivered weekly over a six-month period, with the purpose of improving both social cognition and social functioning among persons with schizophrenia spectrum disorders. SCIT comprises three phases: emotion training, figuring out situations, and integration. Initial pilot testing of 17 inpatients showed that SCIT was associated with improved emotion perception, improved theory of mind, and a reduced tendency to attribute hostile intent to others, with effect sizes being in the medium-large range. Although research is still in the early phases, SCIT is a potential best practice.

Published 6 April 2007 in Psychiatr Serv, 58(4): 449-51.
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