Controlled trial of the effectiveness of community rehabilitation for patients with schizophrenia in Shanghai, China

BACKGROUND: The ‘Sunshine Soul Park’ is a network of social welfare institutions that provides communitybased rehabilitation services for individuals with mental illness. AIMS: Assess the effectiveness of the rehabilitation services provided at the ‘Sunshine Soul Park’ on the psychotic symptoms and social functioning of individuals with schizophrenia and, based on these findings, provide a theoretical model of community-based rehabilitation. METHODS: Sixty individuals with schizophrenia in the Huangpu District of Shanghai volunteered for the rehabilitation training program provided at six ‘Sunshine Soul Park’ community centers that involves day treatment, medication monitoring, biweekly rehabilitation training, and other recreational, social, and intellectual activities. A matched control group was recruited from individuals with schizophrenia registered on the Huangpu District registry of the ‘Severe Mental Illness Prevention and Rehabilitation System’. All participants continued their medication without change for the full year of follow-up. Both groups were assessed at baseline, and 3, 6, and 12 months after enrollment using the Insight and Treatment Attitude Questionnaire (ITAQ), Social Disability Screening Schedule (SDSS), Generic Quality of Life Inventory-74 (GQOLI-74), and Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). RESULTS: In the intervention group the ITAQ, SDSS, GQOLI-74, and PANSS scores showed statistically significant improvement compared to baseline at each follow-up assessment. Moreover, the trend in improvement in the interventions group is significantly faster than that in the control group. CONCLUSIONS: The ‘Sunshine Soul Park’ rehabilitation training program enhances patients’ knowledge about their disorder and improves their social functioning and quality of life. Further studies to assess methods for up-scaling this intervention to other areas of China are warranted.