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QUANTITATIVE
Abstract
Aim. To examine the effectiveness of an auditory hallucinatory symptom
management programme in patients with chronic schizophrenia.
Background. Thirty per cent of chronic schizophrenia patients are still disturbed
by hallucinations, which influence their psychological and social well-being, even
when they take medication regularly.
Method. Fifty-eight people experiencing schizophrenia with auditory hallucinations
from psychiatric inpatient rehabilitation wards in northern Taiwan participated in
the study, with 29 in the experimental group and 29 in the control group. The
experimental group received an auditory hallucinatory symptom management
programme. The auditory hallucinatory symptom management programme
involved 60-minute meetings once a week, for a total of 10 meetings. The control
group received routine care, which included free recreation for 40 minutes and
walking for 20 minutes. The participants completed three self-report
questionnaires: the Beck Depressive Inventory II, the Beck Anxiety Inventory and
the Characteristics of Auditory Hallucinations Questionnaire. Data were collected
at baseline, immediately following the intervention and at 3 months and 6 months
post intervention. Data collection occurred between March 2010May 2013.
Results. The experimental group showed a non-significant improvement in
anxiety symptoms over time. Generalized estimating equations revealed that the
experimental group achieved a greater drop in Characteristics of Auditory
Hallucinations Questionnaire score than the controls at three and 6 months post
intervention. Beck Depressive Inventory II scores in the experimental group
(n = 29) had significantly improved in 3 months.
Conclusion. The auditory hallucinatory symptom management programme seems
to be effective in improving auditory hallucinatory symptoms and depressive
symptoms in patients with schizophrenia.
Keywords: anxiety symptoms, auditory hallucinations, depressive symptoms,
nursing, schizophrenia, symptom management
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JAN: ORIGINAL RESEARCH: EMPIRICAL RESEARCH QUANTITATIVE Symptom management programme for auditory hallucinations
Introduction
In recent years, biological psychiatry has become a major
trend in mental health care. Atypical psychotropic drugs
have been widely used by psychiatrists, enabling the stabilization of symptoms in patients with schizophrenia for
whom typical psychotropic drugs are ineffective. However,
50-60% of patients with chronic schizophrenia who are on
regular medication do not respond well to drugs (Ballon &
Lieberman 2010). As a result, certain patients are still
disturbed by auditory hallucinations, which affect their
emotional states (Lung et al. 2009). The harmful effects of
auditory hallucinations include aggressive behaviour (Cut 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Background
In the 1990s, the School of Nursing and Health Professions
at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) began
developing symptom management strategies to help individual patients cope with their symptoms and combined these
symptom management strategies with behavioural strategies
in group settings (Buccheri et al. 1996). Dodd et al. (2001)
described symptom management as a dynamic process
where management strategies are constantly modified
according to factors such as outcomes, people, environment, health and illness. Dodd et al. (2001) divided symptom management into three components: symptom
experience, symptom management strategies and symptom
outcomes. After identifying their symptoms, patients measure the severity of their symptoms and the effects of their
symptoms on their daily lives to further determine whether
an active response and management are required. Once they
decide to manage their symptoms, patients then determine
what management strategies to use and how, when, where,
under what conditions and to what extent these management strategies should be employed. After treating their
symptoms through these management strategies, patients
finally evaluate the effectiveness of the management strategy
by considering their physiological function, self-care, economic benefits, quality of life and emotional states. Fatality
rates are also considered. The three components of symptom experience, symptom management strategies and symptom outcomes constantly influence each other due to the
effects of factors such as people, environments, health and
illness, eventually reaching a dynamic balance.
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The study
Aim
The aim of this study was to compare the participants
levels of auditory hallucinations, anxiety symptoms and
depressive symptoms before and after receiving routine
treatment and participating in the AHSM programme.
Design
A quasi-experimental design was employed to evaluate the
effectiveness of group AHSM treatments for patients who
were on regular medication and exhibited combined symptoms of auditory hallucinations and schizophrenia. The participants were divided into an experimental group and a
control group according to their desired treatment. Both
participant groups answered an outcome assessment questionnaire. The experimental group underwent a 10-week
AHSM course and the control group underwent 10 weeks
of routine treatment. At the 10th week, all of the participants were required to respond to an outcome assessment
tool. Afterwards, they were followed up once every
3 months for a total of 6 months.
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JAN: ORIGINAL RESEARCH: EMPIRICAL RESEARCH QUANTITATIVE Symptom management programme for auditory hallucinations
Experimental group
(n = 29)
AHSM programme
Assignment by wards
Group I (n = 8)
Group II (n = 9)
Group III (n = 12)
Baseline
data collection
Control group
(n = 29)
Routine care
Experimental group
(n = 29)
Postintervention
data collection
Control group
(n = 29)
Experimental group
(n = 29)
3-month
follow-up
Control group
(n = 29)
Experimental group
(n = 29)
6-month
follow-up
Control group
(n = 29)
Data collection
The psychiatrists, nursing staff and relevant professionals of
the rehabilitation units were informed of the objectives and
content of the study. Eligible participants were suggested by
the nursing staff or were selected by the review of medical
records. The demographics and data of the participants
were used for the purposes of the study only. The participants answered pre-test questionnaires before the study formally began. After the 10-week conventional treatment and
AHSM course, data were again collected at week 10, after
which a follow-up was conducted every 3 months for the
next 6 months. Three AHSM programmes, with the corresponding data collection, were conducted from March
2010May 2013.
2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Ethical considerations
Approval from the psychiatric centre (IRB981205-2, IRB
1010328-01) and the Joint Institutional Review Board
(JIRB 11-S-011) were obtained prior to data collection.
Potential participants were then informed of the objectives
of the study and their right to unconditionally withdraw at
any time without harming their medical rights. Should any
symptoms or discomfort appear during the study, medical
personnel would provide proper care, or the participants
could temporarily or permanently withdraw from the study.
Anonymously coded questionnaires were distributed with
the guarantee that the collected data would remain confidential, would only be used for the study and would be
sealed and archived when the study was concluded to protect the rights of the participants.
Measures
The measurement tools adopted in this study included
demographic data and three outcome measures: the Beck
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Data analysis
This study employed SPSS Windows 180 to analyse the collected data. A t-test or v2 test was conducted to analyse differences in the demographics and outcome indicator
variables between the two groups of participants prior to the
intervention. Subsequently, a paired t-test was adopted to
compare the assessment data obtained from the same group
before and after the intervention and at the 3-month and 6month follow-ups. Finally, a generalized estimating equation
(GEE) with an exchangeable correlation structure was used
to analyse the effects of group and time and the group by
time interaction. Age, gender, number of hospitalizations,
duration of disease, years of education and CPZ equivalents
at baseline were controlled. Effect size calculations were
based on the mean prepost change in the experimental
group minus the mean prepost change in the control group,
divided by the pooled baseline standard deviation (Morris
2007). An effect size of 02 was considered small, 05 moderate and 08 large (Sullivan & Feinn 2012).
Results
Participants demographic and clinical characteristics
This study involved 58 participants: 29 in the experimental
group and 29 in the control group. The demographics and
outcome variables of the two groups are presented in
Table 1. Homogeneity test results showed that no differences existed between the two groups prior to the intervention. In both groups, the average age of the participants
was 4683 (SD 837), with an initial age range of 31-65. The
average number of years of education was 1129 (SD 200),
the average number of hospitalizations was 488 (SD 358)
and the average number of years since illness onset was
2264 (SD 862). Based on the CPZ equivalents, a standardized measure for medication doses, there was no difference
in the amount of medication between the two groups of
participants at any of the aforementioned four points in
time and the t-test results indicated that no significant differences existed between the two groups.
JAN: ORIGINAL RESEARCH: EMPIRICAL RESEARCH QUANTITATIVE Symptom management programme for auditory hallucinations
Table 1 Comparisons of the demographic data of the experimental (EG) and control (CG) groups at baseline (N = 58).
Variables
Sex
Female
Male
CG (n = 29)
n
EG (n = 29)
n
13
16
10
19
M(SD)
Age
Number of Hospitalizations
Years of Education
Duration of disease
CAHQ
BAI
BDI
CPZ Equivalents (T0)
CPZ Equivalents (T1)
CPZ Equivalents (T2)
CPZ Equivalents (T3)
4638
552
1128
2334
1666
1759
1479
52914
49966
50138
51190
0468
M(SD)
(808)
(466)
(202)
(809)
(900)
(1209)
(1137)
(29591)
(30965)
(30806)
(30385)
4728
424
1131
2193
2045
1607
1600
62134
62366
61848
60641
v2
(878)
(188)
(202)
(920)
(542)
(1425)
(1145)
(20480)
(20871)
(20523)
(20049)
0421
0405
1367
0065
0621
1945
0437
0403
1380
1788
1704
1398
0687
0180
0948
0537
0058
0664
0689
0173
0079
0094
0168
T0: baseline; T1: post intervention; T2: 3-month follow-up; and T3: 6-month follow-up. CAHQ, characteristics of auditory hallucinations
questionnaire; BAI, beck anxiety inventory; BDI, beck depression inventory; CPZ, chlorpromazine.
Table 2 and Fig 2a present the CAHQ results, the primary outcome indicator of this study. In the control group,
the CAHQ scores obtained before and after intervention
did not differ and the CAHQ scores obtained at the 3month follow-up assessments were lower than those
obtained before the intervention (P < 001). After the
effects of the six covariates were controlled, the GEE results
showed that the CAHQ scores of the experimental group
had improved significantly more than those of the control
group; the interaction between group and time indicated
that compared with before the intervention, the CAHQ
scores of the experimental group had decreased significantly
more than those of the control group at 3 months
(P = 0015) and 6 months (P = 0004) after the intervention. The regression coefficients for the various interaction
terms show the amount of change in the intervention group
over and above the amount of change in the control group,
controlling for covariates. The size of these effects (as
indexed by Cohens d) are also shown in the table and are
in the moderate to large range.
Table 3 and Fig 2b display one of the secondary outcome
indicators in this study, anxiety symptoms. At 3 months
after the intervention, the BAI scores of the control group
were significantly lower than the baseline and at the
3-month and 6-month follow-ups, the BAI scores of the
experimental group were lower than those before the intervention (P < 005). The GEE results showed that the
changes over time did not differ significantly between the
two groups when the effects of the six covariates were controlled.
2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Discussion
This study explored the effectiveness of an intervention
based on adoption of the AHSM programme. The effectiveness was assessed 6 months after the conclusion of the programme, using CAHQ score as the primary outcome
indicator and BAI and BDI scores as secondary indicators.
The results indicated that the experimental group experienced greater improvement in CAHQ score than the control
group. Regarding depressive symptoms, at the follow-up
3 months after the conclusion of the AHSM intervention
programme, the experimental group exhibited greater
improvement in depressive symptoms than the control
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Experimental
Control
2045
19
18
17
16
1666
1652
1441
15
14
1476
1300
13
12
1259
11
T0
T1
1279
T2
T3
(b) BAI
20
Experimental
Control
1759
18
1562
16
1521
1607
14
1283
1362
12
893
10
1062
8
6
T0
T1
T2
T3
(c) BDI
19
Experimental
Control
1772
17
1600
1776
15
1479
13
1186
1311
11
1107
825
9
7
T0
T1
T2
T3
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JAN: ORIGINAL RESEARCH: EMPIRICAL RESEARCH QUANTITATIVE Symptom management programme for auditory hallucinations
Table 2 Effects of symptom management on the patients auditory hallucinatory symptoms at baseline, postintervention and the 3- and
6-month follow-ups (N = 58).
Control group (n = 29)
T0
M (SD)
T1
M (SD)
T2
M (SD)
T3
M (SD)
T0
M (SD)
T1
M (SD)
T2
M (SD)
T3
M (SD)
1666
(900)
1476
(939)
129
1300
(972)
1441
(924)
2045
(542)
1652
(506)
407***
1259
(652)
1279
(531)
t1
t2
t3
305**
614***
159
591***
95% Wald CI
B
Intercept
Group
T1
T2
T3
Group 9 T1
Group 9 T2
Group 9 T3
Scale
1032
394
190
366
224
203
421
541
5788
SE
453
191
144
118
138
173
172
188
Lower
Upper
144
019
472
596
495
542
759
910
1920
768
093
135
047
135
083
173
Wald v2
519
425
173
965
263
139
596
829
P
0023
0039
0189
0002
0105
0239
0015
0004
ES
0267
0551
0711
P value: GEE (generalized estimating equations) model used to test for differences between the intervention group and the control group with
respect to changes from baseline to post intervention and from baseline to the 3- and 6-month follow-ups, adjusted for the six covariates.
ES, effect size, based on between-group differences in mean change and the pooled baseline SD of the two groups.
Table 3 Effects of symptom management on the patients anxiety symptoms at post-intervention and the 3- and 6-month follow-ups
(N = 58).
Control group (n = 29)
T0
M (SD)
T1
M (SD)
T2
M (SD)
T3
M (SD)
T0
M (SD)
T1
M (SD)
T2
M (SD)
T3
M (SD)
1759
(1209)
1562
(1496)
108
1283
(1308)
1521
(1409)
1607
(1425)
1362
(1278)
111
893
(1071)
1062
(1288)
t1
t2
t3
276*
277*
132
303**
95% Wald CI
B
Intercept
Group
T1
T2
T3
Group 9 T1
Group 9 T2
Group 9 T3
Scale
3393
047
197
476
262
048
238
283
16985
SE
1111
341
178
170
193
280
305
261
Lower
Upper
Wald v2
1217
716
546
808
640
597
835
795
5570
623
153
143
115
501
359
230
934
002
121
787
185
003
061
117
P
0002
0892
0271
0005
0174
0863
0435
0280
ES
0038
0181
0235
P value: GEE (generalized estimating equations) model used to test for differences between the intervention group and the control group with
respect to changes from baseline to post intervention and from baseline to the 3- and 6-month follow-ups, adjusted for the six covariates.
ES: effect size, based on between-group differences in mean change and the pooled baseline SD of the two groups.
Limitations
Although the findings need to be considered in the context
of a small sample size and non-randomization, important
group differences in CAHQ score remained significant after
controlling for covariates using GEE. This study had some
limitations. First, the sample size was small and there was a
potential for bias due to the self-selection of participants
into the experimental group. Additional studies need to be
conducted, with larger and more representative samples.
Second, a quasi-experimental design was used, where the
experimental and control groups were not randomly
assigned; this might affect the interpretation of the results.
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Therefore, a randomized clinical study on this topic is suggested. In addition, the participants were invited to join the
study from a psychiatric rehabilitation centre; thus, the
findings cannot be generalized to all patients with
schizophrenia
experiencing
auditory
hallucinations.
Although all of the patients in the psychiatric centre had
the opportunities to be invited to participate in the study,
whether the AHSM programme would be effective for
patients who declined to participate in the study requires
further research. Moreover, to manage the symptoms of
auditory hallucinations, the participants must possess selfmonitoring abilities (Buccheri et al. 2004). Consequently, if
the participants lacked the capabilities to identify their
symptoms, the AHSM programme would not achieve its
maximum potential.
Conclusion
Using a quasi-experimental design, this study aimed to
investigate the short-term effects of the strategies learnt
over a 10-week AHSM programme and the effects that
2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
JAN: ORIGINAL RESEARCH: EMPIRICAL RESEARCH QUANTITATIVE Symptom management programme for auditory hallucinations
Table 4 Effects of symptom management on the patients depressive symptoms at post-intervention and the 3- and 6-month follow-ups
(N = 58).
Control group (n = 29)
T0
M (SD)
1479
1137
t1
t2
t3
T1
M (SD)
1776
1264
1744
T3
M (SD)
T0
M (SD)
T1
M (SD)
T2
M (SD)
T3
M (SD)
1186
1102
1311
1449
1600
1145
1472
1222
0761
825
835
1107
929
1916
5596***
1253
2962**
95% Wald CI
B
Intercept
Group
T1
T2
T3
Group 9 T1
Group 9 T2
Group 9 T3
Scale
962
177
297
293
206
424
477
316
12400
SE
985
289
167
150
194
235
200
261
Lower
Upper
968
388
031
588
586
884
869
827
2892
743
624
002
173
036
084
194
Wald v2
095
038
315
380
113
327
567
147
P
0329
0539
0076
0051
0287
0071
0017
0225
ES
0287
0426
0375
P value: GEE (generalized estimating equations) model used to test for differences between the intervention group and the control group with
respect to changes from baseline to post intervention and from baseline to the 3- and 6-month follow-ups, adjusted for the six covariates.
ES, effect size, based on between-group differences in mean change and the pooled baseline SD of the two groups.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank professor R Buccheri at the University of
San Francisco, California who has provided the DVD of
symptom management and Characteristic of Auditory Hallucination Questionnaire (CAHQ) to this project.
Funding
This study was supported by a grant from Yen Tjing Ling
Medical Foundation CI-100-40.
Conflict of interest
None conflicts of interest to declare by the authors.
Author contributions
All authors have agreed on the final version and meet at
least one of the following criteria [recommended by the
ICMJE (http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/)]:
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