Virtual Reality Training for Social Skills in Schizophrenia - Comparison With Cognitive Training

The effectiveness of the social skills VR training at an optimal dose will be compared with an active control condition (computerized cognitive training game) in improving social attention (Social Engagement Latency: SEL), symptoms and social cogitive functioning in a pilot randomized cross-over trial. Participants with schizophrenia will undergo a baseline assessment of social cognitive functioning, and clinical symptoms. Potential changes after Social skills VR training compared with cognitive game training will be examined. Individuals with schizophrenia will be randomized to either the social skills VR training or the cognitive training at baseline. They will then participate in 8 sessions of social skills VR training or cognitive training (1 hour per session, twice a week for 4-5 weeks). After completion of the 8 sessions per training condition, they will cross over and participate in the other condition. Social engagement latency (SEL) will be used as a measure of social attention which is the primary target. The Social Functional Scale (Birchwood, 1991), the the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS) and the Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms (SAPS) will be used to assess social functioning and symptoms. Emotion perception will be assesed by the Bell-Lysaker Emotion Recognition Task (BLERT-A). Matched healthy control participants will be recruited to obtain comparison data for optimal performance levels but these healthy control participants will not undergo social skills training. Lastly, at the end of the R33 project, if this VR social skills VR training shows that it can improve social attention, which may improve social outcome in schizophrenia, it will be possible to refine the protocol to make the method more accessible, less burdensome and widely available in the future by moving towards a mobile application.