EVALUATING COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL TREATMENT OF SCHIZOPHRENIA - 4 SINGLE-CASE STUDIES

Cognitive-behavioral treatment (CBT) has been used infrequently with p ersons with schizophrenia. This exploratory study delineates the use o f CBT strategies, describes the process of treatment, and presents res ults from the single-subject A-B design (N = 4) that examined the effi cacy of CBT of schizophrenia. Standardized measures of psychosocial fu nctioning, severity of symptoms, attainment of treatment goals, and da ta regarding hospitalizations were used to assess change over the cour se of 18 months of treatment and follow-up. Analysis of data indicated that the clients experienced considerable reduction in symptomatology and rehospitalizations as well as improvement in psychosocial functio ning and attainment of treatment goals. Treatment issues regarding the application of cognitive-behavioral methods with persons with schizop hrenia and suggestions for future social work research and practice ar e discussed.