Effect of combining motivational interviewing with cognitive remediation on personal recovery in patients with schizophrenia.

Background/objective: We have been practising the Neuropsychological and Educational Approach to Remediation (NEAR) as cognitive remediation (CR) in a psychiatric hospital and have implemented it in combination with regular interviews based on Motivational Interviewing (MI) approximately 2 years after launching NEAR. In this study, we investigated whether combining MI with CR affected completion of the programme, cognitive functions, global functioning, and personal recovery of patients with schizophrenia by analysing medical records.

Methods: In this retrospective observational study, 14 participants were assigned to the NEAR group and 12 participants were assigned to the NEAR + MI group.