Abstract
Objective: The objective of this study was to explore the possibility of the use of Virtual Reality Functional Skills Assessment (VRFSA) in a future regular clinical trial, as well as to report a preliminary result about effectiveness of atypical antipsychotics to social competence in schizophrenia. Methods: We developed the VRFSA that measured subjects' performances automatically and used analogue scale rather than Likert scale. Twenty-four female patients with paranoid schizophrenia and 15 healthy females were recruited. This was a 6-week, randomized, open-label, and flexible dose study, and 2 treatments (baseline versus post-treatment) x 2 skills phases (receptive versus expressive) x 2 patient groups (aripiprazole versus risperidone) analysis of variance was used in the final analysis. Results: There was a significant difference in the VRFAS between the patients and the healthy subjects (p<0.05). Eighteen patients were included in the final analysis. We found larger treatment effect than those found in previous studies, and significant treatment x skills phase x group interaction effect on the VRFAS. Conclusions: Our results suggest that the VRFAS is strongly sensitive to changes in social competence and thus especially beneficial in short-term clinical trials. In addition, atypical antipsychotics can improve social competence and differentially improve receptive skills and expressive skills in schizophrenia.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 619-627 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Human Psychopharmacology |
Volume | 24 |
Issue number | 8 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2009 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Neurology
- Clinical Neurology
- Psychiatry and Mental health
- Pharmacology (medical)