Efficacy of the Therapeutic Game "Trisquel" in the Treatment of Patients With Substance-Related Disorders Randomized Clinical Study.

Substance-related disorders (SRD) have been consistently associated with alterations both in cognitive and executive functions, which affect to patients' quality of life. The main objective of this work was to test the beneficial cognitive effects on patients with SRD after the implementation of "Trisquel," an intervention program in board game format. To check the effectiveness of Trisquel program, a group of people diagnosed with SRD was randomly assigned either to the experimental group or to the control group. The experimental group performed Trisquel structured sessions twice a week during 3 months, while the control group performed routinely conventional therapeutic activities with the same frequency and duration. Neuropsychological tests were done to both groups before and after the intervention. After the 3 months of intervention the experimental group showed the following statistically significant improvements for WAIS-III subtests: number key, symbol search, arithmetic, direct digits, inverse digits, total digits, letters-numbers in the processing speed index and in the working memory index. Regarding STROOP tests, statistically significant progress was observed in the phonetic fluency letter P, phonetic fluency letter M, phonetic fluency letter R subtests, word-reading and word-color subtests. The control group only obtained improvements for WAIS-III subtests of arithmetic, letters-numbers and in the working memory index. The results of this study confirm that "Trisquel" is an effective intervention program for people diagnosed with SRD, getting improvements in processing speed (psychomotor and reading), attentional subprocesses (focused and sustained) and executive functions (updating and inhibition).

Effectiveness of the “Trisquel” board game intervention program for patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders.

Schizophrenia spectrum disorders present emotional, cognitive and/or behavioural alterations relat- ed to daily functioning. Therefore, it is necessary to develop intervention programs focused on the improvement of these constructs. The aim of this work is to analyse the effect of the intervention program “Trisquel” on cognitive functioning, symptomatologic perception and psychosocial functioning.

Efectividad del programa de intervención «El Trisquel» en personas con trastornos del espectro de la esquizofrenia / Effectiveness of the «Trisquel» board game intervention program for patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders

INTRODUCCIÓN: Los trastornos del espectro de la esquizofrenia presentan alteraciones emocionales, cognitivas o conductuales relacionadas con el funcionamiento diario. Por ello, es necesario desarrollar programas de intervención enfocados a la mejora de estos constructos. El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar el efecto en el funcionamiento cognitivo, la percepción sintomatológica y el funcionamiento psicosocial del programa de intervención «El Trisquel». METODOLOGÍA: Se llevó a cabo un diseño experimental con un total de 24 personas con diagnóstico de trastorno del espectro de la esquizofrenia que fueron asignadas aleatoriamente al grupo experimental «El Trisquel» y al grupo control. El grupo «El Trisquel» realizó dos sesiones estructuradas semanales durante tres meses, mientras que el grupo control realizó sesiones de estimulación cognitiva con la misma frecuencia e intensidad. Se administraron pruebas neuropsicológicas, clínicas y funcionales antes y después de la intervención. RESULTADOS: Tras el programa de intervención, en el grupo «El Trisquel» se encontraron mejorías estadísticamente significativas en los subtests de letras y números (p = 0,029), en el índice de memoria de trabajo (p = 0,020) WAIS-III, en sensibilidad interpersonal (p = 0,015) e ideación paranoide (p = 0,049) SCL-90-R y en funcionamiento psicosocial EEAG (p = 0,020). Y en el grupo control, en velocidad de procesa-miento (p = 0,034) WAIS-III y percepción de la salud SF-36 (p = 0,017). CONCLUSIONES: Los resultados de este estudio sugieren que «El Trisquel» puede ser un programa de intervención eficaz para inducir mejoras en el funcionamiento de la memoria operativa, en las dimensiones sintomatológicas de sensibilidad interpersonal e ideación paranoide y en el funcionamiento psicosocial en personas con diagnóstico de trastorno del espectro de la esquizofrenia

INTRODUCTION: The disorders of the schizophrenia spectrum present emotional, cognitive and/or behavioural alterations, related to daily functioning, therefore it is necessary to develop intervention programmes focused on the improvement of these constructs. The objective of this work is to analyze the effect on cognitive functioning, symptomatological perception and psychosocial functioning of the Trisquel intervention program. METHODOLOGY: An experimental design was carried out with a total of 24 people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia spectrum disorder who were randomly assigned to the experimental group Trisquel and the control group. The Trisquel group con-ducted two structured weekly sessions for three months, while the control group conducted cognitive stimulation sessions with the same frequency and intensity. Neuropsychological, clinical and functional tests were administered before and after the intervention. RESULTS: After the intervention program in the Trisquel group, statistically significant improvements were found in the subtest of letters and numbers (p = 0,029), in the working memory index (p = 0,020) WAIS-III, in interpersonal sensitivity (p = 0,015) and paranoid ideation (p = 0,049) SCL-90-R and in psychosocial functioning EEAG (p = 0,020). And in the control group, in processing speed (p = 0,034) WAIS-III and health perception SF-36 (p = 0,017). CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study suggest that «Trisquel» may be an effective intervention program to induce improvements in the functioning of working memory, in the symptomatic dimensions of interpersonal sensitivity and paranoid ideation, and in psychosocial functioning in people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia spectrum disorder

Diferencias entre hombres y mujeres en los procesos de toma de decisiones en pacientes con trastornos relacionados con sustancias / Differences between men and women in decision-making processes in patients with substance-related disorders

Resumen Los trastornos relacionados con sustancias (TRS) pueden cursar con alteraciones neuropsicológicas que afectan las actividades de la vida diaria de una persona. El objetivo principal de este trabajo es estudiar el proceso de la toma de decisiones en pacientes con TRS y analizar si hay diferencias entre hombres y mujeres. Se administró una versión computarizada de la Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) a una muestra total de 101 pacientes con TRS que solicitaron tratamiento ambulatorio, 81 hombres (80,2%) y 20 mujeres (19,8%). Los resultados muestran una alteración en la toma de decisiones. Asimismo, se observó un peor rendimiento en el grupo de los hombres en la toma de decisiones en comparación con el grupo de las mujeres. Estos datos comprueban la importancia de tener en cuenta el sexo a la hora del diagnóstico e intervención en personas con TRS. Se precisan estudios futuros que profundicen en estas diferencias.

Abstract Substance-related disorders (TRS) can cause neuropsychological alterations that affect the activities of a person's daily life. The main objective of this work is to study the process of decision making in patients with TRS and to analyze if there are differences between men and women. A computerized version of the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) was administered to a total sample of 101 patients with TRS who requested outpatient treatment, 81 men (80.2%) and 20 women (19.8%). The results obtained show an alteration in the decision making. Likewise, a worse performance was observed in the group of men in decision making compared to the group of women. These data point to the importance of taking into account sex at the time of diagnosis and intervention in people with SDB. Future studies are needed to delve into these differences.