Thinking Skills for Work in Severe Mental Illness (TSW)

August 20, 2013 updated by: Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center

Cognitive Rehabilitation and Supported Employment for Severe Mental Illness

The purpose of this study is help people with serious mental illness and receiving vocational rehabilitation get and keep the job they want by improving their thinking skills, such as attention and memory, using computer exercises and other strategies. One half of the participants in the study will receive vocational rehabilitation and the exercises to improve thinking skills, and the other half will receive just vocational rehabilitation. All participants will receive an assessment of symptoms and thinking skills at the beginning of the study and 6, 12, and 24 months later. Work activity during the 24 months in the study will be collected. It is expected that those participants who receive the practice of their thinking skills will be more likely to get and keep the job they want compared with people who do not receive this treatment.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

This randomized controlled trial is evaluating the effectiveness of a pilot-tested, manualized cognitive remediation intervention entitled the "Thinking Skills for Work Program" by comparing it to enhanced supported employment services in clients with severe mental illness (SMI) who are participants in high fidelity supported employment programs at the Greater Mental health Center of Manchester and Thresholds, Inc., Chicago, Il, but who have had difficulty getting or keeping jobs. Participants are randomized to either the Thinking Skills for Work (cognitive remediation +supported employment; CT+SE) or enhanced supported employment (E-SE), with cognitive, symptom, and quality of life assessments performed at baseline, 3 months (following the completion of the computerized cognitive training component of the Thinking Skills for Work program), 12 months, and 24 months, and employment data gathered over the full 2-year period. For the E-SE condition, supported employment services are enhanced by training provided to the employment specialists regarding to recognize cognitive problems related to work performance, and how employment specialists can teach clients coping strategies for managing these problems. Primary analyses will focus on testing the hypotheses that the Thinking Skills for Work Program (CT+SE) leads to better cognitive functioning and better competitive work outcomes over the 2-year follow-up period compared to the E-SE program.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

110

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Illinois
      • Chicago, Illinois, United States, 60613
        • Thresholds, Inc.
    • New Hampshire
      • Manchester, New Hampshire, United States, 03103
        • Mental Health Center of Greater Manchester

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Chronic mental disorder
  • Minimum age 18
  • Unemployed
  • Wants employment
  • Must be a recipient of services at one of two participating agencies
  • Fluent in English
  • Willing and legally able to provide informed consent to participate in study -Subjects with court appointed legal guardians will be included

Exclusion Criteria:

  • History of neurological conditions that impair cognition

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Supported Employment Only
Supported employment is an evidence based practice designed to help people with serious mental illness obtain competitive work. This vocational model adheres to the principles of zero inclusion, rapid job search, no prevocational training, attention to client preferences and integration with clinical services.
Behavioral: Supported Employment
Supported Employment is an evidence based vocational rehabilitation program
Experimental: Thinking Skills for Work
The Thinking Skills for Work Program includes 5 components delivered by a Cognitive Specialist who works collaboratively with the consumer's Employment Specialist: a) assessing the consumer's strengths and weaknesses in cognitive functioning, and analysis of the contribution of cognitive impairments and other factors to job losses and difficulties obtaining a job; b) teaching coping strategies for dealing with cognitive challenges associated with job search or maintaining a job; c) computer cognitive training involving cognitive exercises with a commercially available software program, which is designed to improve the broad range of cognitive skills through a combination of practice and strategy coaching by the Cognitive Specialist; d) job search planning; and e) job support consultation.
Behavioral: Thinking Skills for Work Program
The Thinking Skills for Work includes assessment of cognitive strengths and weaknesses and their relationship with work history, computerized cognitive practice, compensatory strategy training, and integration of cognitive and supported employment services.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
AMOUNT OF EMPLOYMENT
Time Frame: 24 months
TOTAL HOURS OF COMPETITIVE EMPLOYMENT FROM BASELINE TO 24 MONTHS. TOTAL WEEKS OF EMPLOYMENT FROM BASELINE TO 24 MONTHS. TOTAL NUMBER OF JOBS HELD FROM BASELINE TO 24 MONTHS.
24 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING AND MEMORY
Time Frame: BASELINE, 6, 12, and 24 months
CHANGE FROM BASELINE IN EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING AND MEMORY AT 6 MONTHS USING THE MATRICS COGNITIVE ASSESSMENT BATTERY. CHANGE FROM BASELINE IN EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING AND MEMORY AT 12 MONTHS USING THE MATRICS COGNITIVE ASSESSMENT BATTERY.. CHANGE FROM BASELINE IN EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING AND MEMORY AT 24 MONTHS USING THE MATRICS COGNITIVE ASSESSMENT BATTERY.
BASELINE, 6, 12, and 24 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center

Collaborators

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Susan R McGurk, Ph.D., Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

April 1, 2006

Primary Completion (Actual)

October 1, 2009

Study Completion (Actual)

October 1, 2011

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

August 19, 2013

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 20, 2013

First Posted (Estimate)

August 21, 2013

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

August 21, 2013

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 20, 2013

Last Verified

August 1, 2013

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • MH077210
  • 1R01MH077210-01 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

Clinical Trials on Schizophrenia

Clinical Trials on Supported Employment

Search Similar Trials

Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

CROs by country

CROs in Jamaica

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

Sponsor/Collaborators

Locations

3
Subscribe