ADOPTION AND DISSEMINATION OF SOCIAL SKILLS TRAINING IN JAPAN - A DECADE OF EXPERIENCE (1988-1997)

Psychiatric rehabilitation has been slow to develop in Japan, in part because of traditional stigma against community-based treatment of the seriously mentally ill and a prevailing biological approach to schizo phrenia. in the past decade, however, rehabilitation methods have been introduced, spearheaded by social skills training. The rapid dissemin ation of social skills training in Japan has been promoted by the publ ication of a national newsletter, the development of a Japanese Social Skills Training Association, reimbursement of social skills training by the national health insurance, and an active schedule of workshops, seminars, lectures and training programs. Research on social skills t raining has paralleled its development as a clinical modality. When sk ills training has been delivered with fidelity, it has been possible t o measure the acquisition of skills by persons with schizophrenia. A r ole-play test has been validated after its cultural adaptation to Japa n and correlations have been found between scores on the social skills role-play test and cognitive functioning of persons with schizophreni a, lending credence to the hypothesis that neurocognitive dysfunction may play a role in social and occupational adjustment of persons with schizophrenia.