Subject-chosen activities in occupational therapy for the improvement of psychiatric symptoms of inpatients with chronic schizophrenia: a controlled trial:

Objective:To compare the therapeutic effects of subject-chosen and therapist-chosen activities in occupational therapy for inpatients with chronic schizophrenia.Design:Prospective comparative study.Setting:A psychiatric hospital in Japan.Subjects:Fifty-nine patients with chronic schizophrenia who had been hospitalized for many years.Interventions:The subjects received six-months occupational therapy, participating in either activities of their choice (subject-chosen activity group, n = 30) or activities chosen by occupational therapists based on treatment recommendations and patient consent (therapist-chosen activity group, n = 29).Main measures:The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale and the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) Scale were used to evaluate psychiatric symptoms and psychosocial function, respectively.Results:After six-months occupational therapy, suspiciousness and hostility scores of the positive scale and preoccupation scores of the general psychopathology scale significantly improved...