PICOT Question: In adults diagnosed with schizophrenia in a psychiatric outpatient setting (P), how does integrated care involving both antipsychotic medication and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) (I) compared to antipsychotic medication alone (C) improve symptoms and quality of life (O) over six months (T)?

To analyze data for the upcoming proposal, a quantitative approach will be utilized (Gray & Grove, 2021). Data collection will involve standardized symptom assessment tools. For example, the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) is used to measure the severity of symptoms, and the World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF) is used to analyze well-being. A randomized controlled trial (RCT) design would be utilized by assigning participants to either a group receiving antipsychotic medication alone or a group receiving both medication and CBT. Assessments will occur at baseline, three months, and six months to monitor the changes over time. Research suggests that integrating CBT with antipsychotic medication can significantly reduce paranoia symptoms and improve thought processes in individuals with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders (Garety et al., 2021). The purpose is to improve the overall well-being for adult schizophrenic clients. Virtual reality-based CBT interventions have also shown promise in addressing paranoid ideation and enhancing cognitive restructuring (Kip et al., 2020). To analyze the collected data, statistics, including means and standard deviations, will summarize symptom changes and quality of life improvements. Statistic measures, such as t-tests and repeated-measures ANOVA, will determine statistically significant differences between the groups, with a p-value of <0.05 indicating significance. Missing data will be managed using multiple imputation techniques to reduce bias. By integrating both symptom reduction and quality of life measures, this analysis aims to determine whether CBT, alongside medication, leads to superior patient outcomes compared to medication alone. This evidence-based approach can inform clinical decision-making and mental health policy improvements.

Reference

Garety, P., Ward, T., Emsley, R., Greenwood, K., Freeman, D., Fowler, D., Kuipers, E., Bebbington, P., Dunn, G., Hardy, A., & Waller, H. (2021). Digitally supported CBT to reduce

paranoia and improve reasoning for people with schizophrenia-spectrum psychosis: the SlowMo RCT. Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation, 8(8), 1-74. https://doi.org/10.3310/eme08080

Gray, J.R., & Grove, S.K. (2021). The practice of nursing research: Appraisal, synthesis, and generation of evidence (9th ed.). Elsevier.