COMPUTER-BASED COGNITIVE TRAINING WITH SC HIZOPHRENIC-PATIENTS - THE USE OF EVALUATION OUTCOME FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN INDIVIDUALIZED TRAINING CONCEPT

The paper deals with the evaluation of a computer-based cognitive grou p training programme for schizophrenic patients. The evaluation of the training results of 100 patients who participated in an earlier train ing scheme showed ceiling effects in up to 46% of the cases. In the re maining cases the improvements varied in a wide range between 1.6 and 20%. These results implied that the training had to be adapted more cl osely to the specific needs of the individual patient. To this end we developed criteria for each taste to decide whether training in this t ask is necessary or the performance is sufficient. This approach limit s training to those tasks in which patients display deficits. Satisfac tory improvement terminating training for the specific task, is define d as an increase in correct responses of at least 10%. For those tasks in which reaction times are used as performance measure, the criterio n is a 10% increase in percentile rank. An analysis of the new trainin g programme with the data of 20 patients revealed that 27% of the task s showed ceiling performance with no further training need. In the rem aining tasks the patients' performance attained the training criterion in 68%, at instances mostly even after one additional session. These preliminary results indicate that the new training scheme is able to p rovide more flexibility, individualisation and an enhanced focus on th e patients' deficits.