Attitude towards mental help-seeking, motivation, and economic resources in connection with positive, negative, and general psychopathological symptoms of schizophrenia: a pilot study of a psychoeducation program.

Introduction: Schizophrenia is typically treated with medication as the first approach, but additional strategies are necessary to enhance the effectiveness of this treatment for better outcomes. However, it is crucial to explore methods, alongside medication, that promote a positive attitude towards seeking mental health support and alleviate symptom severity among non-institutionalized individuals of different age groups in Pakistan. Thus, this pilot study aimed to utilize a psychoeducation program to enhance patients' motivation and attitudes toward seeking treatment, decrease symptom severity, and investigate the role of financial factors in their illness journey. Methods: In this preliminary investigation, our focus was on individuals who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and were receiving treatment from various hospitals and primary care clinics. Following a thorough screening process, 255 participants met the eligibility criteria, and 220 completed the psychoeducation program. The study included both male and female participants, with 143 (56.08%) being men and 112 (43.82%) being women. Regarding marital status, 123 (48.24%) were single, 98 (38.43%) were married, and 34 (13.33%) were divorced widowers or widows. The age range of the respondents varied from 18 to 52 years, with a mean age of 35.45 and a standard deviation of 10.27. Results: The results indicated a decrease in symptom severity following a 16-week psychoeducation program. The psychoeducation program significantly reduced the positive symptoms, negative symptoms, and general psychopathological symptoms among patients. Similarly, significant improvement was observed in patients' motivation toward treatment and they actively participated in treatment after getting psychoeducation about the treatment. Similarly, after the psychoeducation program significant improvement was seen in patients' attitudes towards help-seeking and perceived mental health functioning. Conclusion: In summary, the findings suggest that our psychoeducation program has the potential to positively impact the motivation and help-seeking attitudes of schizophrenia patients towards treatment. Moreover, there is a need for further exploration of psychoeducation programs for schizophrenia, particularly in countries facing economic challenges. This study paves the way for the development of an indigenous psychoeducation program tailored to Pakistani schizophrenia patients, with potential applicability for Urdu-speaking individuals. Clinical Trial Registration: https://www.thaiclinicaltrials.org/show/TCTR20210208003, identifier TCTR20210208003.

Cognitive behaviour hypnotherapy and Nonsuicidal self-injury disorder: Intervention study.

OBJECTIVE: To identify the effect of cognitive behaviour hypnotherapy on nonsuicidal self-injury condition. METHODS: The quasi-experimental study was conducted from May 2019 to April 2020 in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, Pakistan, and comprised students aged 18-25 years at various universities and colleges in the twin cities. The participants were screened using deliberate self-harm inventory for >2 events without suicidal intention in line with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5th edition. They were then divided into two intervention and control groups. Over the following three months, the intervention group received cognitive behaviour hypnotherapy, while the control group did not receive any treatment. The groups were assessed post-intervention. The final phase comprised follow-up assessment of the condition. Data was analysed using SPSS 25. RESULTS: Of the 60 subjects, there were 30(50%) in each of the two groups. Overall, there were 41(68%) males and 19(32%) females. The majority of the subjects were aged 21-23 years 29(48%). More than 5 self-harm incidents were reported by 48(80%) subjects, while suicidal ideation was detected in 6(10%) students. The effect size of the study was good in terms of pre- and post-intervention values (d=4.90), the post-intervention and follow-up assessment values (d=0.32) and the pre-intervention and follow-up values (d=5.42). The comparison between treatment and no treatment groups indicated the effectiveness of treatment over no-treatment, F (1, 58) = 53.16, p < .001. CONCLUSIONS: Cognitive behaviour hypnotherapy was found to be effective in treating the nonsuicidal self-injury condition.

Translation and reliability analysis of menopause rating scale (MRS) in Urdu language.

OBJECTIVE: To establish the psychometric properties of the Urdu version of Menopause Rating Scale.. METHODS: The study was conducted at Lahore from 1, 2017 to 10, 2017. In first phase, the Menopause Rating Scale was forward and backward-translated and linguistic equivalence was checked by using it on a sample of bilingual respondents. In the second phase, reliability estimation of the scale was established over separate sample. Psychometric properties of the Urdu version were checked by using alpha index, split-half reliability, test-re-test reliability, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses.. RESULTS: There were 130 women with a mean age of 50.94±4.71 years (range: 40-55 years). Linguistic equivalence was significantly high (p<0.01). High Cronbach's alpha value (p<0.001) indicated high internal consistency reliability. Exploratory factors analysis structured 3 original factors of the Urdu version of the scale and confirmatory factor analysis value 0.965 indicated that the structured model was acceptable with good fit. Test re-test reliability was 0.991 (p<0.01). CONCLUSION: Urdu version of Menopause Rating Scale was found to be highly reliable with a valid measure for Pakistani culture.