MEDICAL SCIENCE l ANALYSIS ARTICLE Medical Science 27, e100ms2828 (2023) 1 of 13 Efficacy of cognitive pragmatic treatment in adults with schizophrenia Anusuya Muthu 1* , Shanthi Nambi 2 , Raman Krishnan 2 , Rajagopalan Vijayaraghavan 3 ABSTRACT Objectives: The study aimed to evaluate the efficiency of cognitive-pragmatic treatment (CPT) in improving cognitive functions and pragmatic language abilities in adults with schizophrenia. Methods: 100 individuals with schizophrenia who fulfilled the inclusion criteria were assigned to control (n = 25) and experimental groups (n = 75). Experimental groups received CPT for 3 months, while the control group obtained only routine care. Individuals were tested both before and after the intervention to gauge their progress also 3 months post-intervention, a follow-up evaluation was carried out. Analyses employed parametric and non-parametric statistics. Results: The findings revealed significant variations among groups and tests (p<0.001), & interaction of groups with tests (p<0.001) on two-way Repeated Measures ANOVA. Both the post-test and the follow-up assessment indicated that the experimental group had significantly higher levels of pragmatic language skills and cognitive functioning than the control group. There has been no major influence of age, gender and illness duration on the treatment outcomes by three-way ANOVA. Conclusions: The present study showed that CPT improved pragmatic language communication skills & cognitive functioning in adults with schizophrenia. Keywords: Schizophrenia, cognitive pragmatic treatment, cognitive functioning, pragmatic language impairment, group therapy, social communication impairment. 1. INTRODUCTION Schizophrenia is the most prevalent mental condition associated with impaired social functioning as per the “National Mental Health Survey” of 2015 to 2016 (Murthy, 2017). The prevalence of schizophrenia in the Indian population is 0.5%. Cognitive and communication impairments are evident in the manifestations of schizophrenia. Speech and language impairments in schizophrenia, typically limit an individual’s ability to communicate effectively. Language consists of morphology, semantics, syntax and phonology, the most relevant in terms of social communication is pragmatics. It emphasizes how language is used in relation to objectives and accords that are reached during social interactions. Communicative pragmatics is the Medical Science pISSN 2321–7359; eISSN 2321–7367 To Cite: Muthu A, Nambi S, Krishnan R, Vijayaraghavan R. Efficacy of cognitive pragmatic treatment in adults with schizophrenia. Medical Science 2023; 27: e100ms2828. doi: Authors’ Affiliation: 1 Assistant Professor, Department of Speech Language and Hearing sciences-ENT, Saveetha Medical College & Hospital, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India 2 Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Saveetha Medical College & Hospital, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India 3 Department of Research and Development, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India ORCID List Anusuya Muthu 0000-0003-1297-741X Shanthi Nambi 0000-0002-0198-7826 Raman Krishnan 0000-0002-3511-7968 Rajagopalan Vijayaraghavan 0000-0002-2805-5404 * Corresponding Author Assistant Professor, Department of Speech Language and Hearing sciences-ENT, Saveetha Medical College & Hospital, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India Email: nethu.anu@gmail.com ORCID: 0000-0003-1297-741X Peer-Review History Received: 13 January 2023 Reviewed & Revised: 17/January/2023 to 09/February/2023 Accepted: 14 February 2023 Published: 18 February 2023 Peer-review Method External peer-review was done through double-blind method. URL: https://www.discoveryjournals.org/medicalscience This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Copyright © 2023 Discovery Scientific Society. DISCOVERY SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY