Metacognitive training in the acute psychiatric care setting: feasibility, acceptability, and safety

Rabea Fischer; Matthias Nagel; Daniel Schöttle; Daniel Lüdecke; Franziska Lassay; Steffen Moritz; Jakob Scheunemann

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1247725

Metacognitive training in the acute psychiatric care setting: feasibility, acceptability, and safety

Front Psychol. 2023 Nov 29:14:1247725. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1247725. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Rabea Fischer^{1

2}, Matthias Nagel^{2

3}, Daniel Schöttle^{1

4}, Daniel Lüdecke¹, Franziska Lassay¹, Steffen Moritz¹, Jakob Scheunemann¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
² Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Asklepios Clinic North Wandsbek, Hamburg, Germany.
³ Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, Luebeck, Germany.
⁴ Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Asklepios Clinic Harburg, Hamburg, Germany.

Abstract

Patients on acute psychiatric wards desire more psychosocial treatment than they receive, according to recent studies, but evidence-based interventions tailored to this setting are currently lacking. Metacognitive Training for psychosis (MCT) is a flexible, easy-to-administer group therapy that has been adapted to meet this demand (MCT-Acute). Thirty-seven patients with severe mental illness took part in MCT-Acute twice a week during their stay on a locked acute ward and were interviewed before, during, and after the intervention period regarding subjective utility, subjective adverse events, and symptom severity; attendance rates and reasons for absence were recorded. In addition, staff rated adverse events, symptom severity, and functioning (German Clinical Trial Register ID: DRKS00020551). Overall, most patients evaluated MCT-Acute positively and reported symptom stabilization. Staff also reported improvement in functioning. No clinician-rated adverse events related to participation in MCT-Acute were reported. Conducting MCT-Acute is feasible and safe and may contribute to meeting patients', practitioners', and researchers' demands for more evidence-based psychotherapeutic interventions for the acute psychiatric care setting.

Clinical trial registration: ID: DRKS00020551, https://drks.de/search/de/trial/DRKS00020551.

Keywords: group therapy; locked ward; metacognitive training; psychiatry; psychological intervention; psychosis; severe mental illness.

Grants and funding

This study was funded in part by Asklepios proresearch (grant number: 3902). The funding organization did not interfere with the design or execution of the study nor with the collection, management, analysis, or interpretation of the data. No other funds were received. We acknowledge financial support from the Open Access Publication Fund of UKE - Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf and DFG – German Research Foundation.