Motivation Skills Training for Schizophrenia

This study will take place at one outpatient clinic serving adults with serious mental illness and will recruit ten individuals (N=10) with a DSM-5 diagnosis of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder to participate in an Open Trial of Motivation Skills Training (MST). MST is a weekly group-based skills training intervention that aims to improve knowledge about one's level and sources of motivation, the ability to monitor and regulate (understand and manage) motivation, so that one can better initiate and sustain goal-directed behavior. Participants who consent for research will complete assessments of motivation, goal attainment, quality of life, executive functioning, community functioning, and psychiatric symptoms severity. The intervention phase will be approximately 12 weeks in duration and will entail weekly MST group sessions. At treatment endpoint, participants will be asked to repeat the assessment battery from baseline as well as a satisfaction survey. Change in motivation, goal attainment and quality of life will indicate whether MST is engaging the hypothesized target (motivation) and whether there is impact on functioning.

Inclusion Criteria:Age 18-65A primary Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)-5 diagnosis of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorderMedically and psychiatrically stable outpatient statusEnglish FluencyExclusion Criteria:Indications of Intellectual Disability as documented in medical history or measured by < 70 premorbid full scale Intelligence Quotient (IQ) estimateSevere substance use within the past 3 months determined by DSM-5 criteriaNeurologic condition causing brain disease