Cognitive Adaptation Training (CAT) is an evidence-based treatment that uses environmental supports including signs, text messages, checklists, smart pill containers, and the organization of belongings to bypass cognitive and motivational impairments and to cue adaptive behavior in the home or work environment. We developed and tested a remote version of CAT to make the treatment available more broadly. Because CAT is focused on working with the individual in their home environment to establish supports, CAT may not be as easy to translate into an effective virtual treatment as talk-therapies. Fifty-six members of managed care were assigned to or given their treatment preference for CAT or Remote CAT (R-CAT) for 6 months. In-person or virtual pill counts were conducted monthly and assessments of habit-formation, symptoms, functioning, and satisfaction were administered every 2 months by independent raters. Analyses using mixed models with repeated measures focused on pre-planned evaluations of within-group change. Adherence improved significantly in R-CAT, functioning improved significantly in CAT and both groups improved significantly on measures of habit-formation and symptoms across 6 months. Higher functioning individuals appeared to choose R-CAT. Satisfaction with treatment was very high in both groups. R-CAT appears to be a potentially effective treatment, particularly for medication follow-though. However, in contrast to decades of previous research, fewer than 20% of eligible Medicaid recipients agreed to participate in the study. This may have been due to recruitment during and immediately post-pandemic.
Keywords: environmental supports; habit-formation; remote cognitive adaptation training; serious mental illness.
Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the University of Maryland's school of medicine, Maryland Psychiatric Research Center 2023.