[PH-1-8] Applying the Novel Virtual Reality Program in Schizophrenia for Vocational Rehabilitation – A Case Study
Objective: Previous studies suggested social skill was an important predictor for successful vocational rehabilitation. Improving subjects’ social skills could increase the rate of returning to work. The Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS®) is an evidence-based social skill training for autism. Social skill deficits in autism could be intervened and improved by PEERS® effectively, and these social skill deficits were overlapping between autism and schizophrenia. But the application of PEERS® on schizophrenia’s social skills is still unknown. To ensure the intervention was consistent and reliable, we borrowed the idea from the PEERS® program (managing disagreement), and integrated the training materials using the Virtual Reality (VR) technology. This case report demonstrated the preliminary outcomes using the VR technology on an individual with schizophrenia who receive vocational rehabilitation.
Methods: A 28-year-old woman with schizophrenia at day care center accepted the VR social-occupational training. The programs involved four lessons and situations about job interviews and interpersonal conflict management with interviewers and colleagues in mild and serious manners for sixty minutes once a week. Besides, individual client-centered programs are provided, including the prevocational training and vocational rehabilitation by occupational therapists. The prevocational training included volunteer training twice every week, computer typing and word processing, writing and sending resume by teaching and discussing, looking for a new job online, and repeating job interview social skills practice with VR social-occupational programs. The vocational rehabilitation included completing the procedure for reporting-for-duty, work adjustment and condition, and repeating interpersonal conflict management social skills practice. Besides, we provided supportive psychotherapy and employment-focused social skills practice in the programs near the workplace once every day at the first week, thrice and contacting by phone other time at the second week, contacting by phone at the third and the fourth week.
Results: Intervention outcome was evaluated by the Comprehensive Occupational Therapy Evaluation Scale Taiwan version. We found that there were a few improvements at some work-related items and total scores after intervention and after employment. Finally, she got a job two months after the intervention, and managed real world workplace interpersonal relationship and communication. At one-month follow-up, she could work independently.
Conclusion: Client-centered occupational therapy with VR technology can be helpful in vocational rehabilitation of mental health services in terms of employment-focused social skills and work adjustment. This successful experience of VR-based client-centered occupational therapy in one schizophrenia case is worth validation in larger samples.
Methods: A 28-year-old woman with schizophrenia at day care center accepted the VR social-occupational training. The programs involved four lessons and situations about job interviews and interpersonal conflict management with interviewers and colleagues in mild and serious manners for sixty minutes once a week. Besides, individual client-centered programs are provided, including the prevocational training and vocational rehabilitation by occupational therapists. The prevocational training included volunteer training twice every week, computer typing and word processing, writing and sending resume by teaching and discussing, looking for a new job online, and repeating job interview social skills practice with VR social-occupational programs. The vocational rehabilitation included completing the procedure for reporting-for-duty, work adjustment and condition, and repeating interpersonal conflict management social skills practice. Besides, we provided supportive psychotherapy and employment-focused social skills practice in the programs near the workplace once every day at the first week, thrice and contacting by phone other time at the second week, contacting by phone at the third and the fourth week.
Results: Intervention outcome was evaluated by the Comprehensive Occupational Therapy Evaluation Scale Taiwan version. We found that there were a few improvements at some work-related items and total scores after intervention and after employment. Finally, she got a job two months after the intervention, and managed real world workplace interpersonal relationship and communication. At one-month follow-up, she could work independently.
Conclusion: Client-centered occupational therapy with VR technology can be helpful in vocational rehabilitation of mental health services in terms of employment-focused social skills and work adjustment. This successful experience of VR-based client-centered occupational therapy in one schizophrenia case is worth validation in larger samples.