Validation of a Traumatic Brain Injury Remediation Programme for Chronic Schizophrenia.

Background: Cognitive impairments in schizophrenia share considerable overlap with those seen in traumatic brain injury (TBI). This overlap offers a rationale for investigating whether cognitive remediation strategies developed for TBI can be tailored to benefit schizophrenia. Purpose: This exploratory study assessed the efficacy and generalisability of the Brainwave-R cognitive remediation programme, designed initially for TBI, in improving neuropsychological functioning and symptom dimensions in individuals with schizophrenia. Methods: This was a tertiary Psychiatric Care Facility-based exploratory study following the pre-and-post intervention with a control group (CG) design. Twenty hospitalised male patients diagnosed with schizophrenia were purposively sampled and divided into intervention and CGs ( Results: The intervention group exhibited statistically significant improvements across a broad range of neuropsychological domains. Additionally, significant reductions were observed in negative and select positive symptom scores, highlighting the programme's multidimensional clinical impact. Conclusion: This study provides promising preliminary evidence for the cross-diagnostic applicability of TBI-based cognitive remediation in schizophrenia. However, the findings must be interpreted cautiously due to key limitations: small, all-male sample size; short intervention duration; and absence of long-term or functional outcome assessments. Future research should prioritise larger, gender-diverse, and longitudinal designs to establish the broader utility and personalisation of cognitive interventions in schizophrenia.