Kern Robert S, Reddy L Felice, Horan William P, Glynn Shirley M, Stigers Peter J, Sugar Catherine A, Green Michael F
UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior.
Veterans Community Employee Development Program.
Psychiatr Rehabil J. 2022 Sep;45(3):291-298. doi: 10.1037/prj0000518. Epub 2022 Apr 11.
Veterans with psychotic disorders often experience employment difficulties. Job tenure is highly variable with shorter tenure frequently tied to interpersonal difficulties in the workplace. The present study sought to address this problem by examining the efficacy of social cognition skills training (SCST) and social problem solving skills training (SPSST) interventions, implemented sequentially, and added to usual VA employment services (augmented vocational rehabilitation [VR]).
Participants were 91 Veterans with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders who were recently enrolled in one of three types of VA employment services (incentive therapy, transitional work, supported employment), and randomized 1:1 to augmented VR versus control VR. Training for the augmented VR group included 12 weeks of SCST plus 6 weeks of work-related SPSST; training for the control VR group included a control intervention (symptom management training) matched in instructional format and length of training to the SCST and SPSST interventions. All participants received baseline and posttraining measures of social cognition. For those who got jobs, the primary work outcome measures were social skills work behavior and job tenure.
Results showed a significant group x time interaction favoring the augmented VR group on measures of social cognition and social skills work behavior, but there were no significant differences in job tenure.
The findings for workplace social skills support a promising new direction for enhancing work outcomes in this population; the null effect on job tenure may have been due to high job retention rates across the three types of employment service programs. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
患有精神障碍的退伍军人经常面临就业困难。工作任期差异很大，较短的任期往往与工作场所的人际困难有关。本研究旨在通过检验社会认知技能培训（SCST）和社会问题解决技能培训（SPSST）干预措施的效果来解决这一问题，这些干预措施依次实施，并添加到常规的退伍军人事务部就业服务中（强化职业康复[VR]）。
参与者为91名患有精神分裂症和其他精神障碍的退伍军人，他们最近参加了三种类型的退伍军人事务部就业服务之一（激励疗法、过渡性工作、支持性就业），并以1:1的比例随机分配到强化VR组和对照VR组。强化VR组的培训包括12周的SCST加6周的与工作相关的SPSST；对照VR组的培训包括一种对照干预（症状管理培训），其教学形式和培训时长与SCST和SPSST干预相匹配。所有参与者都接受了社会认知的基线和培训后测量。对于找到工作的人，主要的工作成果测量指标是社交技能工作行为和工作任期。
结果显示，在社会认知和社交技能工作行为测量方面，存在显著的组×时间交互作用，有利于强化VR组，但工作任期没有显著差异。
工作场所社交技能的研究结果为改善这一人群的工作成果提供了一个有前景的新方向；工作任期的零效应可能是由于三种就业服务项目的高留职率。（PsycInfo数据库记录（c）2022美国心理学会，保留所有权利）
