Video as a Tool to Improve Insight in Schizophrenia (VideoInsight)

September 29, 2025 updated by: University Hospital, Montpellier

Video Self-observation as a Therapeutic Tool for Improving the Insight of Patients With Schizophrenia Disorders

The deficit of awareness of pathology (or insight) is a common symptom in patients with schizophrenia and has a negative impact on the prognosis of the disease. Current treatments aren't effective enough on this symptom (Pijnenbord et al., 2013).

Previous studies have shown a positive impact of videos of patients themselves on insight but they lacked power. This technique needs more investigation. The study aims to improve the patient's awareness of pathology with a video of themselves recorded in the acute phase of their illness. Patients will watch this video after clinical stabilization. This is a randomized controlled and single blinded trial. A population of 60 patients (30 in each group) will be included. The impact on the insight, symptomatology, treatment adherence and functional remission will be evaluated.

The video of patient is useful for a personalized clinical follow-up. Its use for therapeutic purposes would be innovative and could be extended to other applications in psychiatry, especially as this tool is readily available.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

In everyday practice in psychiatry, some interviews are filmed in order to follow the clinical course and for educational purposes. But the videos are not used as a therapeutic tool for patients. This research project focuses on the therapeutic potential of these videos and particularly on the awareness of patients of their disorder (insight). Patients hospitalized for decompensation of their schizophrenic pathology will be filmed during structured interviews. After clinical stabilization patients will be proposed to participate to this trial. A group of patients (G1) will watch the video recorded in the acute phase of their illness. A control group (G2) will have a usual care without video or specific therapy. 48 hours after, the clinical impact et the evolution of insight of patients will be evaluated. Then follow-up visits will also be provided at one and four months with the same clinical evaluation, plus an evaluation of treatment adherence and functional remission. This study also includes qualitative interviews for group 1 after watching the video to explore the experience of patients in this situation of self-confrontation. The autobiographical memory will also be studied in this protocol. Tolerance of this experience will be assessed by a monitoring of emotions, specifically depressive affects and suicidal ideation. Adverse events will be reported and patients will always have the access to a psychiatrist if necessary.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

60

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

  • France
      • Montpellier, France, 34295
        • University Hospital of Montpellier
      • Nîmes, France, 30029
        • University Hospital of Nimes

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 to 65 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder according to the DSM 5
  • Age between 18 and 65 years
  • Patients initially hospitalized for acute decompensation of their schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder according to the medical records and any medical certificates
  • Patients who agreed to be filmed during a standardized interview at screening (in acute decompensation phase of the disease at the beginning of hospitalization)
  • Clinical state compatible with the therapeutic experience and obtaining consent with a score on the scale of PANSS positive symptoms of less than 24

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Mental impairment moderate to severe
  • Central nervous system disease or severe head trauma
  • Chronic alcohol dependence
  • Patients hospitalized for a social problem or otherwise, without acute decompensation of their schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder as assessed by the referring psychiatrist
  • Patients deprived of liberty by judicial decision
  • Pregnant and breastfeeding women

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
Experimental: Experimental group with video
30 patients will watch the video of them in acute decompensation phase
Other: Video self-observation
Patients will watch the video of them in acute decompensation phase then they will be asked about their emotions, their understanding and awareness of mental illness
Other Names:
  • Group 1
Sham Comparator: Control group without video
30 patients will not watch the video of them in acute decompensation phase, they pass a standard interview with psychometric scales
Other: Non Self video observation
Patients will not watch the video of them in acute decompensation phase.
Other Names:
  • Group 2

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Unawareness of Mental Disorder (SUMD)
Time Frame: 48 hours
Scale to assess Unawareness of Mental Disorder (SUMD)
48 hours

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Insight
Time Frame: 48 hours
Birchwood Insight Scale
48 hours
Cognitif Insight
Time Frame: 48 hours
Beck Cognitive Insight Scale
48 hours
Positive Symptom
Time Frame: 48 hours
Positive and Negative Symptom Scale
48 hours
Negative Symptom
Time Frame: 48 hours
Positive and Negative Symptom Scale
48 hours
Depression
Time Frame: 48 hours
Calgary Depression Scale for Schizophrenia
48 hours
Autobiographical Memory
Time Frame: 48 hours
Autobiographical Memory Test
48 hours
Medication Adherence
Time Frame: 48 hours
Medication Adherence Rating Scale
48 hours
Functional Remission (FROGS scale)
Time Frame: 48 hours
Evaluation of quality of daily life
48 hours

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

University Hospital, Montpellier

Collaborators

Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nīmes

Investigators

  • Study Director: Aurélie SCHANDRIN, MD, University Hospital of Nimes

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 (Actual)

December 8, 2015

Primary Completion (Actual)

October 4, 2018

Study Completion (Actual)

December 30, 2018

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

January 11, 2016

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 25, 2016

First Posted (Estimated)

January 26, 2016

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimated)

September 30, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 29, 2025

Last Verified

December 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 9545

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

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 Video self-observation

Search Similar Trials

Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

CROs by country

CROs in Cyprus

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

Sponsor/Collaborators

Locations

Subscribe