Active clinical trials for "Schizophrenia"

Early intervention programs for psychosis help improve short-term treatment and recovery outcomes for individuals experiencing psychosis. OnTrackNY is a coordinated specialty care (CSC) program, developed to treat young adults within two years of experiencing a non-affective episode of psychosis. This project aims to expand the role of family engagement and support within the OnTrackNY model. Borrowing from the Needs Adapted and Open Dialogue models, the study team created a family therapy service that includes the client and members of his/her social network to navigate crises and assist in treatment planning. This service, Social Network Meetings, will be offered to individuals enrolled in the OnTrackNY@MHA program as an additional, voluntary, service option. The study proposes that the introduction of Social Network meetings may improve treatment and recovery outcomes.

The study seeks to delve into the firsthand experiences of patients diagnosed with schizophrenia who partake in a separate clinical trial featuring a specific medical intervention. The primary emphasis will be on meticulously tracking the rates of trial completion and withdrawal among these individuals. The data collected from this study will help improve future outcomes for all schizophrenia patients as well as those in under-represented demographic groups.

Historically, research participation has been biased toward certain demographics. However, there is a shortage of studies that delve into the underlying factors that influence patient participation, both positively and negatively. Several people will be invited to enroll in this study so that it may collect a variety of data about schizophrenia clinical trial experiences and identify barriers to participation as well as the causes of participants' failure or withdrawal. The data collected from this study will be analyzed and used to improve the experiences of future schizophrenia patients who are recruited for medical trials.

The overarching aim of the proposed work is to align a promising treatment lead - Musical Intervention (MI) - with a promising mechanistic account of psychosis - Predictive Processing. The R61 phase (that this registration covers) will investigate the impact of group musical intervention on predictive processing metrics of hallucinations and social dysfunction.

This clinical trial aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the theory-based integrated program in promoting medication adherence in patients with schizophrenia. The purpose of this study are: To explore the effectiveness of the theory-based integrated program in promoting community-based schizophrenia patients' adherence to medication(like :motivation, attitude and behavior) To explore the effectiveness of the theory-based integrated program in improving the psychiatric symptoms of patients with schizophrenia in the community. Participants (the experimental group) received routine home visits from psychiatric mental nurses, including drug administration, drug side effects and symptom management, life care, and the theory-based program provided by the researcher(treatment as usual + the theory-based integrated program). The comparison group: received routine home visits from psychiatric mental nurses, including drug administration, drug side effects, and symptom management, life care,(treatment as usual).

This study investigates the common features of electrophysiological measures in schizophrenia and effects of NMDA antagonist ketamine in healthy volunteers.

The project aimed at identifying neuropsychobiological signatures of pharmacological sex-steroid hormone manipulations in healthy women as a risk model for depression. The study is a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study. Investigators included 63 healthy female volunteers with regular menstrual cycles between 23 and 35 days. Participants were randomized to active Gonadotrophin-Releasing-Hormone agonist (GnRHa) (goserelin 3.6 mg implant) or placebo (saline injection) intervention, which was initiated in the mid follicular phase (i.e. cycle day 22.6 ±2.5). Sixty women completed follow-up and entered the analyses, except for a few drop outs on some domains. The following domains were addressed at baseline and at follow-up (16±3 days post intervention), (which corresponded to the early ovarian suppression phase of the biphasic hormone response to GnRHa): 1) serotonin transporter binding as imaged by 11CDASB Positron Emission Tomography (PET), 2) functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) emotional processing, 3) fMRI reward processing, 3) rating state fMRI (rsfMRI), 4) structural MRI, 5) Neuropsychology, 6) Psychophysiology, 7) Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal cortex (HPA)-axis dynamics, 8) Peripheral markers of immunoactive cell responses, 9) Epigenetic factors. Psychometrics in terms of self reported mental distress and interview based ratings were monitored across the intervention period to monitor potential symptoms of mental distress and psychopathology. Also ovarian hormone responses, peripheral blood markers, and side effects scores were collected across the intervention period.

Our team will develop a prototype game (OnTrack>The Game) in which users play the role of a person who has experienced First Episode Psychosis and move through animated role-playing scenarios, learning practical tips for engaging in care, playing mini-games to develop self- advocacy skills, and seeing stories of hope and recovery (brief video vignettes). The game is designed in an engaging comic book style in which the player is presented with realistic situations designed to promote engagement and the development of trusting relationships. Following development of the prototype, the investigators will conduct a pilot study to develop preliminary data to determine feasibility of a large-scale Phase 2 effectiveness study. This pilot study aims to demonstrate proof of concept for OnTrack>The Game. The investigators will recruit a sample of patients/consumers (n=25) from OnTrackNY sites that offer services for those experiencing their first psychotic episode. Quantitative data will be collected through baseline and follow up surveys that utilize instruments to measure knowledge and attitudes about recovery, perceptions of stigma, feelings of empowerment and sense of hopefulness. The investigators will also conduct semi-structured interviews with a subset of participants to explore engagement in treatment and attitudes toward the game.

Social impairments are core features of schizophrenia that lead to poor outcome. Social skills and competence improve quality of life and protect against stress-related exacerbation of symptoms, while supporting resilience, interpersonal interactions, and social affiliation. To improve outcome, we must remediate social deficits. Existing psychosocial interventions are moderately effective but the effort-intensive nature (high burden), low adherence, and weak transfer of skills to everyday life present significant hurdles toward recovery. Thus, there is a dire need to develop effective, engaging and low-burden social interventions for people with schizophrenia that will result in better compliance rates and functional outcome. The investigators will test the effectiveness of a novel adaptive virtual reality (VR) intervention in improving targeted social cognitive function (social attention, as indexed by eye scanning patterns) in individuals with schizophrenia. VR technology offers a flexible alternative to conventional therapies, with several advantages, including a simplified and low-stress social interaction environment with targeted opportunities to simulate, exercise and reinforce basic elements of social skills in a very wide range of realistic scenarios, and to repeat exposure to naturalistic situations from multiple angles.

This study will evaluate behavioral and psychological appeal, toxicity, and effect of e-cigarettes on smoking behavior and nicotine addiction in chronic smokers with serious mental illness (SMI) who have failed to quit smoking. A total of 240 participants will be enrolled and randomly assigned to either receive a supply of e-cigarettes for 8 weeks plus assessments (baseline & weeks 2, 4, 6, 8, 13, & 26) or assessments only. This single-blinded study will provide e-cigarettes and instructions on their safe use. Level of appeal will be inferred from carefully assessed use of e-cigarettes and reduction in combustible tobacco. Qualitative data will also be collected from participants assigned to e-cigarettes, given that unanticipated issues will almost certainly arise in connection with e-cigarette use that can only be captured within a qualitative debriefing at the conclusion of participants' time in the study.