The Effectiveness of Cognitive-Behavioral Group Therapy on Improving Self-Care Skills among Women with Chronic Schizophrenia

Introduction: Schizophrenia is a chronic, debilitating disease that imposes a great care of burden on families and mental health care providers. Therefore, the issue of self-care is very important in these patients, but few studies have addressed this issue. Objective: This study examines the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral Group Therapy on improving self-care skills in women with chronic schizophrenia. Method: Women with chronic schizophrenia were studied in two groups of intervention (N=9) and control (N=10) at Hejazi Hospital in Mashhad, Iran. The intervention group received cognitive-behavioral group therapy and the control group received routine care. The researcher-made self-care questionnaire was completed before intervention and six months after the intervention. Findings: The results of the Mann-Whitney test indicated that there were significant difference between two groups. These difference were especially about variation in the mean of total score of self-care skills before and after intervention, (Z=3/56, p=0/001, Cohen’s d= 2/36) as well as before the intervention and six months after the intervention (z=2/01, p=0/04, Cohen’s d= 0/21). Conclusion: Cognitive-behavioral Group Therapy can affect self-care skills in women with chronic schizophrenia