Effectiveness of Illness Management Program on Positive/Negative Symptoms, and Insight of Schizophrenic Patients

Background: Schizophrenia is a chronic disorder with positive and negative symptoms, and insight is involved in its prognosis. Illness management is considered a skill and strategy for patients with some mental disorders. Objectives: We aimed to investigate the illness management effectiveness on the positive and negative symptoms and insight in schizophrenic patients. Materials & Methods: This study was a quasi-experimental, controlled study with a pre-test-posttest design. The study population included all schizophrenic patients admitted to the Shafa Hospital, Guilan Province in the North of Iran, from March 2019 to April 2020. The sample included 30 schizophrenic patients selected using the convenience sampling method and was divided into 2 groups (experimental and control groups), with 15 patients in each group. For data collection, the scale for the assessment of negative symptoms, the scale for the assessment of positive symptoms, and the scale to assess unawareness of mental disorders were used before and after the intervention. Illness management was performed on the experimental group as group therapy. The control group did not undergo any concomitant intervention. Data analysis was performed in SPSS software version 24 using the univariate analysis of variance in normal distribution and the non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test for the variable which didnchr('39')t follow the normal distribution.. Results: Results indicated that illness management could effectively alleviate the positive and negative symptoms and improve the insight in schizophrenic patients (P<0.01). Conclusion: Illness management was influential on the positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia. Thus, this therapeutic modality can be used as an effective technique in hospitalized schizophrenic patients.