Current psychosocial interventions in schizophrenia are evidenced to improve patients' illness-related knowledge, mental status and relapse rate, but substantive benefits to patients, such as their functioning and insight into the illness, remain uncertain. This multi-centre randomised clinical trial aimed to examine the effects of mindfulness-based psycho-education group intervention for adult patients with early-stage schizophrenia over an 18-month follow-up. The controlled trial was conducted with a repeated-measure, three-arm design at two psychiatric outpatient clinics in Jilin (China) and Hong Kong. A stratified random sample of 180 outpatients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (60/group) was randomly assigned to a mindfulness-based psycho-education group programme, psycho-education group and treatment-as-usual group. The primary outcomes on patients' psychosocial functioning and other patient outcomes, such as psychotic symptoms, in the three groups were compared over the 18-month follow-up (baseline and 1-week, 9-month and 18-month post-intervention). One hundred and sixty (89%) patients completed at least two post-tests. Their mean age and duration of illness were 25-28 years (SD = 6.1-7.8) and 2.1-2.5 years (SD = 1.3-2.0; range 4-54 months), respectively. Compared with the two other groups, the mindfulness-based group exhibited a significantly greater improvement with moderate to large effect sizes (Cohen's d = 0.49-0.98) in functioning (p = 0.005), duration of psychiatric re-hospitalisations (p = 0.007), psychotic symptoms (p = 0.008) and illness insight (p = 0.001) over the 18-month follow-up. Supplementary MRI findings indicated that the mindfulness-based intervention resulted in significant changes in gray matter volume and density in brain regions concerning attention and emotional regulation. Mindfulness-oriented psycho-education group intervention can be an effective intervention for adults with early-stage schizophrenia and exert long-term effects on patients' functioning and mental conditions.
Keywords: Functioning; Mindfulness-based intervention; Psycho-education group; Psychotic symptoms; Schizophrenia.
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