enrico ceccato - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by enrico ceccato

Research paper thumbnail of for Dementia and Depression in ELderly care ( MIDDEL ) protocol and statistical analysis plan for a multinational cluster-randomised trial

Gold, Christian; Assmus, Jörg; Stige, Brynjulf; Wake, Jo Dugstad; Baker, Felicity Anne; Tamplin, ... more Gold, Christian; Assmus, Jörg; Stige, Brynjulf; Wake, Jo Dugstad; Baker, Felicity Anne; Tamplin, Jeanette; Clark, Imogen; Lee, Young-Eun Claire; Jacobsen, Stine Lindahl; Ridder, Hanne Mette Ochsner; Kreutz, Gunter; Muthesius, Dorothea; Wosch, Thomas; Ceccato, Enrico; Raglio, Alfredo; Ruggeri, Mirella; Vink, Annemiek; Zuidema, Sytse; Odell-Miller, Helen; Orrell, Martin; Schneider, Justine; Kubiak, Christine; Romeo, Renee; Geretsegger, Monika

Research paper thumbnail of Dietary habits and physical activity in first-episode psychosis patients treated in community services. Effect on early anthropometric and cardio-metabolic alterations

Research paper thumbnail of Music Interventions for Dementia and Depression in ELderly care (MIDDEL): protocol and statistical analysis plan for a multinational cluster-randomised trial

BMJ Open

IntroductionIn older adults, dementia and depression are associated with individual distress and ... more IntroductionIn older adults, dementia and depression are associated with individual distress and high societal costs. Music interventions such as group music therapy (GMT) and recreational choir singing (RCS) have shown promising effects, but their comparative effectiveness across clinical subgroups is unknown. This trial aims to determine effectiveness of GMT, RCS and their combination for care home residents and to examine heterogeneity of treatment effects across subgroups.Methods and analysisThis large, pragmatic, multinational cluster-randomised controlled trial with a 2×2 factorial design will compare the effects of GMT, RCS, both or neither, for care home residents aged 65 years or older with dementia and depressive symptoms. We will randomise 100 care home units with ≥1000 residents in total across eight countries. Each intervention will be offered for 6 months (3 months 2 times/week followed by 3 months 1 time/week), with extension allowed if locally available. The primary ...

Research paper thumbnail of Prosody abilities in a large sample of affective and non-affective first episode psychosis patients

Comprehensive psychiatry, 2018

Prosody comprehension deficits have been reported in major psychoses. It is still not clear wheth... more Prosody comprehension deficits have been reported in major psychoses. It is still not clear whether these deficits occur at early psychosis stages. The aims of our study were to investigate a) linguistic and emotional prosody comprehension abilities in First Episode Psychosis (FEP) patients compared to healthy controls (HC); b) performance differences between non-affective (FEP-NA) and affective (FEP-A) patients, and c) association between symptoms severity and prosodic features. A total of 208 FEP (156 FEP-NA and 52 FEP-A) patients and 77 HC were enrolled and assessed with the Italian version of the "Protocole Montréal d'Evaluation de la Communication" to evaluate linguistic and emotional prosody comprehension. Clinical variables were assessed with a comprehensive set of standardized measures. FEP patients displayed significant linguistic and emotional prosody deficits compared to HC, with FEP-NA showing greater impairment than FEP-A. Also, significant correlations be...

Research paper thumbnail of STAM Protocol in Dementia: A Multicenter, Single-Blind, Randomized, and Controlled Trial

American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias, 2012

Research paper thumbnail of Dietary habits and physical activity in first-episode psychosis patients treated in community services. Effect on early anthropometric and cardio-metabolic alterations

Research paper thumbnail of Music Interventions for Dementia and Depression in ELderly care (MIDDEL): protocol and statistical analysis plan for a multinational cluster-randomised trial

BMJ Open

IntroductionIn older adults, dementia and depression are associated with individual distress and ... more IntroductionIn older adults, dementia and depression are associated with individual distress and high societal costs. Music interventions such as group music therapy (GMT) and recreational choir singing (RCS) have shown promising effects, but their comparative effectiveness across clinical subgroups is unknown. This trial aims to determine effectiveness of GMT, RCS and their combination for care home residents and to examine heterogeneity of treatment effects across subgroups.Methods and analysisThis large, pragmatic, multinational cluster-randomised controlled trial with a 2×2 factorial design will compare the effects of GMT, RCS, both or neither, for care home residents aged 65 years or older with dementia and depressive symptoms. We will randomise 100 care home units with ≥1000 residents in total across eight countries. Each intervention will be offered for 6 months (3 months 2 times/week followed by 3 months 1 time/week), with extension allowed if locally available. The primary ...

Research paper thumbnail of Prosody abilities in a large sample of affective and non-affective first episode psychosis patients

Comprehensive psychiatry, 2018

Prosody comprehension deficits have been reported in major psychoses. It is still not clear wheth... more Prosody comprehension deficits have been reported in major psychoses. It is still not clear whether these deficits occur at early psychosis stages. The aims of our study were to investigate a) linguistic and emotional prosody comprehension abilities in First Episode Psychosis (FEP) patients compared to healthy controls (HC); b) performance differences between non-affective (FEP-NA) and affective (FEP-A) patients, and c) association between symptoms severity and prosodic features. A total of 208 FEP (156 FEP-NA and 52 FEP-A) patients and 77 HC were enrolled and assessed with the Italian version of the "Protocole Montréal d'Evaluation de la Communication" to evaluate linguistic and emotional prosody comprehension. Clinical variables were assessed with a comprehensive set of standardized measures. FEP patients displayed significant linguistic and emotional prosody deficits compared to HC, with FEP-NA showing greater impairment than FEP-A. Also, significant correlations be...

Research paper thumbnail of Music Therapy and Cognitive Rehabilitation in Schizophrenic Patients: A Controlled Study

Nordic Journal of Music Therapy, 2006

Research paper thumbnail of STAM Protocol in Dementia: A Multicenter, Single-Blind, Randomized, and Controlled Trial

American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias, 2012

Research paper thumbnail of STAM Protocol in Dementia: A Multicenter, Single-Blind, Randomized, and Controlled Trial

American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias, 2012

Research paper thumbnail of Classification of first-episode psychosis in a large cohort of patients using support vector machine and multiple kernel learning techniques

NeuroImage, Jan 12, 2015

First episode psychosis (FEP) patients are of particular interest for neuroimaging investigations... more First episode psychosis (FEP) patients are of particular interest for neuroimaging investigations because of the absence of confounding effects due to medications and chronicity. Nonetheless, imaging data are prone to heterogeneity because for example of age, gender or parameter setting differences. With this work, we wanted to take into account possible nuisance effects of age and gender differences across dataset, not correcting the data as a pre-processing step, but including the effect of nuisance covariates in the classification phase. To this aim, we developed a method which, based on multiple kernel learning (MKL), exploits the effect of these confounding variables with a subject-depending kernel weighting procedure. We applied this method to a dataset of cortical thickness obtained from structural magnetic resonance images (MRI) of 127 FEP patients and 127 healthy controls, who underwent either a 3Tesla (T) or a 1.5T MRI acquisition. We obtained good accuracies, notably bett...

Research paper thumbnail of The Role of Experienced and Anticipated Discrimination in the Lives of People With First-Episode Psychosis

Psychiatric Services, 2014

Objective: This study aimed to describe patterns of experienced and anticipated discrimination in... more Objective: This study aimed to describe patterns of experienced and anticipated discrimination in a sample of persons experiencing a first episode of psychosis and to explore associations with clinical and psychosocial variables. Methods: This cross-sectional survey was conducted within the context of the Psychosis Incident Cohort Outcome Study, a multisite naturalistic study examining first-episode patients treated in public psychiatric services in the Veneto Region of Italy. The Discrimination and Stigma Scale was used to assess experienced and anticipated discrimination. Results: Ninetyseven patients were interviewed. Experiences of discrimination were common in relationships with family members (43%), making friends (32%), relationships with neighbors (25%), keeping a job (25%), finding a job (24%), and intimate relationships (23%). In regard to anticipated discrimination, 37% had stopped seeking a close relationship and 34% had stopped looking for work, 58% felt the need to conceal their diagnosis, and 37% reported that other people avoided them. In regression analysis, a higher number of functioning needs together with higher anticipated discrimination were associated with a higher level of experienced discrimination. A higher level of experienced discrimination and greater illness awareness were associated with more anticipated discrimination. Conclusions: Firstepisode patients reported experiencing discrimination in several key life areas. Anticipated discrimination further limited their access to life opportunities. Patients' awareness of the negative consequences of symptoms and disabilities led them to more easily perceive discrimination. (Psychi-

Research paper thumbnail of Poster #243 EXPERIENCED AND ANTICIPATED DISCRIMINATION IN FIRST-EPISODE PSYCHOTIC PATIENTS: PATTERN, SEVERITY AND RELATIONSHIP WITH CLINICAL AND SOCIAL FACTORS. FINDINGS FROM THE PICOS PROJECT

Schizophrenia Research, 2012

Research paper thumbnail of Influence of perceived organisational factors on job burnout: survey of community mental health staff

The British Journal of Psychiatry, 2009

Background Staff burnout is a critical issue for mental healthcare delivery, as it can lead to de... more Background Staff burnout is a critical issue for mental healthcare delivery, as it can lead to decreased work performance and, ultimately to poorer treatment outcomes. Aims To explore the relative weight of job-related characteristics and perceived organisational factors in predicting burnout in staff working in community-based psychiatric services. Method A representative sample of 2000 mental health staff working in the Veneto region, Italy, participated. Burnout and perceived organisational factors were assessed by using the Organizational Checkup Survey. Results Overall, high levels of job distress affected nearly two-thirds of the psychiatric staff and one in five staff members suffered from burnout. Psychiatrists and social workers reported the highest levels of burnout, and support workers and psychologists, the lowest. Burnout was mostly predicted by a higher frequency of face-to-face interaction with users, longer tenure in mental healthcare, weak work group cohesion and pe...

Research paper thumbnail of STAM Protocol in Dementia: A Multicenter, Single-Blind, Randomized, and Controlled Trial

American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias, 2012

Background: The Sound Training for Attention and Memory in Dementia (STAM-Dem) is a manualized mu... more Background: The Sound Training for Attention and Memory in Dementia (STAM-Dem) is a manualized music-based protocol designed to be used in the rehabilitation of cognitive functions in elderly patients with dementia (PWD). Method: This was a multicenter, single-blind, randomized, and controlled trial that involved 51 PWD. The objective was to test the STAM-Dem efficacy. Patients in the experimental group followed the STAM-Dem for 2 weekly sessions of 45 minutes for 12 weeks (in addition to standard care). Those in the control group continued with the normal ''standard care'' provided. Results: In the experimental group, the instruments immediate prose memory test (MPI), deferred prose memory test (MPD), attentional matrices, activities of daily living, Music Therapy Activity Scale (SVAM) and Geriatric Music Therapy Profile (GMP) increase significantly from pre to post-test (P < .05). Conclusion: The protocol is feasible and data suggest that there was an effect on attentino (matrices) and prose memory skills (MPI and MPD). The effect size reveals a general improvement in the results of the experimental group.

Research paper thumbnail of A multi-element psychosocial intervention for early psychosis (GET UP PIANO TRIAL) conducted in a catchment area of 10 million inhabitants: study protocol for a pragmatic cluster randomized controlled trial

by C. Bonetto, Stefano Torresani, Carla Cremonese, Paolo Scocco, Katia Santi, Veronica Marinelli, Renato Magnabosco, Spyridon Zotos, Ileana Boggian, enrico ceccato, Rosa Dall'Agnola, Raffaello Conti, Marta Zenari, Giovanni Austoni, Aldo Gatto, Anna Dominoni, Mauro Scabbio, Roberto Marchioro, Walter Paganelli, Maria Piscitelli, Gregorio Reggiani, Damiano Suzzi, Stefano Cenni, Glenda Marzola, Carla Leoni, Roberta Cellesi, Virginia Brambilla, Anita Montanari, M. Pellizzer, Silvia Azzali, Luca Bensi, Davide Cappellari, Nadia Campagnola, Laura Mairaghi, Sara Malak, Luca Mesiano, Manuela Soave, Natascia Brondino, Alessandra Bergami, Donatella Bolzon, Karin Furlato, Sara Garlassi, Alessandro Gavarini, Fabio Macchetti, Stefano Totaro, and Barbara Bianchi

TRIALS, 2012

Background: Multi-element interventions for first-episode psychosis (FEP) are promising, but have... more Background: Multi-element interventions for first-episode psychosis (FEP) are promising, but have mostly been conducted in non-epidemiologically representative samples, thereby raising the risk of underestimating the complexities involved in treating FEP in 'real-world' services. Methods/Design: The Psychosis early Intervention and Assessment of Needs and Outcome (PIANO) trial is part of a larger research program (Genetics, Endophenotypes and Treatment: Understanding early Psychosis -GET UP) which aims to compare, at 9 months, the effectiveness of a multi-component psychosocial intervention versus treatment as usual (TAU) in a large epidemiologically based cohort of patients with FEP and their family members recruited from all public community mental health centers (CMHCs) located in two entire regions of Italy (Veneto and Emilia Romagna), and in the cities of Florence, Milan and Bolzano. The GET UP PIANO trial has a pragmatic cluster randomized controlled design. The randomized units (clusters) are the CMHCs, and the units of observation are the centers' patients and their family members. Patients in the experimental group will receive TAU plus: 1) cognitive behavioral therapy sessions, 2) psycho-educational sessions for family members, and 3) case management. Patient enrolment will take place over a 1-year period. Several psychopathological, psychological, functioning, and service use variables will be assessed at baseline and follow-up. The primary outcomes are: 1) change from baseline to follow-up in positive and negative symptoms' severity and subjective appraisal; 2) relapse occurrences between baseline and follow-up, that is, episodes resulting in admission and/or any case-note records of re-emergence of positive psychotic symptoms. The expected number of recruited patients is about 400, and that of relatives about 300.

Research paper thumbnail of Music Therapy and Cognitive Rehabilitation in Schizophrenic Patients: A Controlled Study

Nordic Journal of Music Therapy, 2006

Research paper thumbnail of for Dementia and Depression in ELderly care ( MIDDEL ) protocol and statistical analysis plan for a multinational cluster-randomised trial

Gold, Christian; Assmus, Jörg; Stige, Brynjulf; Wake, Jo Dugstad; Baker, Felicity Anne; Tamplin, ... more Gold, Christian; Assmus, Jörg; Stige, Brynjulf; Wake, Jo Dugstad; Baker, Felicity Anne; Tamplin, Jeanette; Clark, Imogen; Lee, Young-Eun Claire; Jacobsen, Stine Lindahl; Ridder, Hanne Mette Ochsner; Kreutz, Gunter; Muthesius, Dorothea; Wosch, Thomas; Ceccato, Enrico; Raglio, Alfredo; Ruggeri, Mirella; Vink, Annemiek; Zuidema, Sytse; Odell-Miller, Helen; Orrell, Martin; Schneider, Justine; Kubiak, Christine; Romeo, Renee; Geretsegger, Monika

Research paper thumbnail of Dietary habits and physical activity in first-episode psychosis patients treated in community services. Effect on early anthropometric and cardio-metabolic alterations

Research paper thumbnail of Music Interventions for Dementia and Depression in ELderly care (MIDDEL): protocol and statistical analysis plan for a multinational cluster-randomised trial

BMJ Open

IntroductionIn older adults, dementia and depression are associated with individual distress and ... more IntroductionIn older adults, dementia and depression are associated with individual distress and high societal costs. Music interventions such as group music therapy (GMT) and recreational choir singing (RCS) have shown promising effects, but their comparative effectiveness across clinical subgroups is unknown. This trial aims to determine effectiveness of GMT, RCS and their combination for care home residents and to examine heterogeneity of treatment effects across subgroups.Methods and analysisThis large, pragmatic, multinational cluster-randomised controlled trial with a 2×2 factorial design will compare the effects of GMT, RCS, both or neither, for care home residents aged 65 years or older with dementia and depressive symptoms. We will randomise 100 care home units with ≥1000 residents in total across eight countries. Each intervention will be offered for 6 months (3 months 2 times/week followed by 3 months 1 time/week), with extension allowed if locally available. The primary ...

Research paper thumbnail of Prosody abilities in a large sample of affective and non-affective first episode psychosis patients

Comprehensive psychiatry, 2018

Prosody comprehension deficits have been reported in major psychoses. It is still not clear wheth... more Prosody comprehension deficits have been reported in major psychoses. It is still not clear whether these deficits occur at early psychosis stages. The aims of our study were to investigate a) linguistic and emotional prosody comprehension abilities in First Episode Psychosis (FEP) patients compared to healthy controls (HC); b) performance differences between non-affective (FEP-NA) and affective (FEP-A) patients, and c) association between symptoms severity and prosodic features. A total of 208 FEP (156 FEP-NA and 52 FEP-A) patients and 77 HC were enrolled and assessed with the Italian version of the "Protocole Montréal d'Evaluation de la Communication" to evaluate linguistic and emotional prosody comprehension. Clinical variables were assessed with a comprehensive set of standardized measures. FEP patients displayed significant linguistic and emotional prosody deficits compared to HC, with FEP-NA showing greater impairment than FEP-A. Also, significant correlations be...

Research paper thumbnail of STAM Protocol in Dementia: A Multicenter, Single-Blind, Randomized, and Controlled Trial

American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias, 2012

Research paper thumbnail of Dietary habits and physical activity in first-episode psychosis patients treated in community services. Effect on early anthropometric and cardio-metabolic alterations

Research paper thumbnail of Music Interventions for Dementia and Depression in ELderly care (MIDDEL): protocol and statistical analysis plan for a multinational cluster-randomised trial

BMJ Open

IntroductionIn older adults, dementia and depression are associated with individual distress and ... more IntroductionIn older adults, dementia and depression are associated with individual distress and high societal costs. Music interventions such as group music therapy (GMT) and recreational choir singing (RCS) have shown promising effects, but their comparative effectiveness across clinical subgroups is unknown. This trial aims to determine effectiveness of GMT, RCS and their combination for care home residents and to examine heterogeneity of treatment effects across subgroups.Methods and analysisThis large, pragmatic, multinational cluster-randomised controlled trial with a 2×2 factorial design will compare the effects of GMT, RCS, both or neither, for care home residents aged 65 years or older with dementia and depressive symptoms. We will randomise 100 care home units with ≥1000 residents in total across eight countries. Each intervention will be offered for 6 months (3 months 2 times/week followed by 3 months 1 time/week), with extension allowed if locally available. The primary ...

Research paper thumbnail of Prosody abilities in a large sample of affective and non-affective first episode psychosis patients

Comprehensive psychiatry, 2018

Prosody comprehension deficits have been reported in major psychoses. It is still not clear wheth... more Prosody comprehension deficits have been reported in major psychoses. It is still not clear whether these deficits occur at early psychosis stages. The aims of our study were to investigate a) linguistic and emotional prosody comprehension abilities in First Episode Psychosis (FEP) patients compared to healthy controls (HC); b) performance differences between non-affective (FEP-NA) and affective (FEP-A) patients, and c) association between symptoms severity and prosodic features. A total of 208 FEP (156 FEP-NA and 52 FEP-A) patients and 77 HC were enrolled and assessed with the Italian version of the "Protocole Montréal d'Evaluation de la Communication" to evaluate linguistic and emotional prosody comprehension. Clinical variables were assessed with a comprehensive set of standardized measures. FEP patients displayed significant linguistic and emotional prosody deficits compared to HC, with FEP-NA showing greater impairment than FEP-A. Also, significant correlations be...

Research paper thumbnail of Music Therapy and Cognitive Rehabilitation in Schizophrenic Patients: A Controlled Study

Nordic Journal of Music Therapy, 2006

Research paper thumbnail of STAM Protocol in Dementia: A Multicenter, Single-Blind, Randomized, and Controlled Trial

American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias, 2012

Research paper thumbnail of STAM Protocol in Dementia: A Multicenter, Single-Blind, Randomized, and Controlled Trial

American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias, 2012

Research paper thumbnail of Classification of first-episode psychosis in a large cohort of patients using support vector machine and multiple kernel learning techniques

NeuroImage, Jan 12, 2015

First episode psychosis (FEP) patients are of particular interest for neuroimaging investigations... more First episode psychosis (FEP) patients are of particular interest for neuroimaging investigations because of the absence of confounding effects due to medications and chronicity. Nonetheless, imaging data are prone to heterogeneity because for example of age, gender or parameter setting differences. With this work, we wanted to take into account possible nuisance effects of age and gender differences across dataset, not correcting the data as a pre-processing step, but including the effect of nuisance covariates in the classification phase. To this aim, we developed a method which, based on multiple kernel learning (MKL), exploits the effect of these confounding variables with a subject-depending kernel weighting procedure. We applied this method to a dataset of cortical thickness obtained from structural magnetic resonance images (MRI) of 127 FEP patients and 127 healthy controls, who underwent either a 3Tesla (T) or a 1.5T MRI acquisition. We obtained good accuracies, notably bett...

Research paper thumbnail of The Role of Experienced and Anticipated Discrimination in the Lives of People With First-Episode Psychosis

Psychiatric Services, 2014

Objective: This study aimed to describe patterns of experienced and anticipated discrimination in... more Objective: This study aimed to describe patterns of experienced and anticipated discrimination in a sample of persons experiencing a first episode of psychosis and to explore associations with clinical and psychosocial variables. Methods: This cross-sectional survey was conducted within the context of the Psychosis Incident Cohort Outcome Study, a multisite naturalistic study examining first-episode patients treated in public psychiatric services in the Veneto Region of Italy. The Discrimination and Stigma Scale was used to assess experienced and anticipated discrimination. Results: Ninetyseven patients were interviewed. Experiences of discrimination were common in relationships with family members (43%), making friends (32%), relationships with neighbors (25%), keeping a job (25%), finding a job (24%), and intimate relationships (23%). In regard to anticipated discrimination, 37% had stopped seeking a close relationship and 34% had stopped looking for work, 58% felt the need to conceal their diagnosis, and 37% reported that other people avoided them. In regression analysis, a higher number of functioning needs together with higher anticipated discrimination were associated with a higher level of experienced discrimination. A higher level of experienced discrimination and greater illness awareness were associated with more anticipated discrimination. Conclusions: Firstepisode patients reported experiencing discrimination in several key life areas. Anticipated discrimination further limited their access to life opportunities. Patients' awareness of the negative consequences of symptoms and disabilities led them to more easily perceive discrimination. (Psychi-

Research paper thumbnail of Poster #243 EXPERIENCED AND ANTICIPATED DISCRIMINATION IN FIRST-EPISODE PSYCHOTIC PATIENTS: PATTERN, SEVERITY AND RELATIONSHIP WITH CLINICAL AND SOCIAL FACTORS. FINDINGS FROM THE PICOS PROJECT

Schizophrenia Research, 2012

Research paper thumbnail of Influence of perceived organisational factors on job burnout: survey of community mental health staff

The British Journal of Psychiatry, 2009

Background Staff burnout is a critical issue for mental healthcare delivery, as it can lead to de... more Background Staff burnout is a critical issue for mental healthcare delivery, as it can lead to decreased work performance and, ultimately to poorer treatment outcomes. Aims To explore the relative weight of job-related characteristics and perceived organisational factors in predicting burnout in staff working in community-based psychiatric services. Method A representative sample of 2000 mental health staff working in the Veneto region, Italy, participated. Burnout and perceived organisational factors were assessed by using the Organizational Checkup Survey. Results Overall, high levels of job distress affected nearly two-thirds of the psychiatric staff and one in five staff members suffered from burnout. Psychiatrists and social workers reported the highest levels of burnout, and support workers and psychologists, the lowest. Burnout was mostly predicted by a higher frequency of face-to-face interaction with users, longer tenure in mental healthcare, weak work group cohesion and pe...

Research paper thumbnail of STAM Protocol in Dementia: A Multicenter, Single-Blind, Randomized, and Controlled Trial

American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias, 2012

Background: The Sound Training for Attention and Memory in Dementia (STAM-Dem) is a manualized mu... more Background: The Sound Training for Attention and Memory in Dementia (STAM-Dem) is a manualized music-based protocol designed to be used in the rehabilitation of cognitive functions in elderly patients with dementia (PWD). Method: This was a multicenter, single-blind, randomized, and controlled trial that involved 51 PWD. The objective was to test the STAM-Dem efficacy. Patients in the experimental group followed the STAM-Dem for 2 weekly sessions of 45 minutes for 12 weeks (in addition to standard care). Those in the control group continued with the normal ''standard care'' provided. Results: In the experimental group, the instruments immediate prose memory test (MPI), deferred prose memory test (MPD), attentional matrices, activities of daily living, Music Therapy Activity Scale (SVAM) and Geriatric Music Therapy Profile (GMP) increase significantly from pre to post-test (P < .05). Conclusion: The protocol is feasible and data suggest that there was an effect on attentino (matrices) and prose memory skills (MPI and MPD). The effect size reveals a general improvement in the results of the experimental group.

Research paper thumbnail of A multi-element psychosocial intervention for early psychosis (GET UP PIANO TRIAL) conducted in a catchment area of 10 million inhabitants: study protocol for a pragmatic cluster randomized controlled trial

by C. Bonetto, Stefano Torresani, Carla Cremonese, Paolo Scocco, Katia Santi, Veronica Marinelli, Renato Magnabosco, Spyridon Zotos, Ileana Boggian, enrico ceccato, Rosa Dall'Agnola, Raffaello Conti, Marta Zenari, Giovanni Austoni, Aldo Gatto, Anna Dominoni, Mauro Scabbio, Roberto Marchioro, Walter Paganelli, Maria Piscitelli, Gregorio Reggiani, Damiano Suzzi, Stefano Cenni, Glenda Marzola, Carla Leoni, Roberta Cellesi, Virginia Brambilla, Anita Montanari, M. Pellizzer, Silvia Azzali, Luca Bensi, Davide Cappellari, Nadia Campagnola, Laura Mairaghi, Sara Malak, Luca Mesiano, Manuela Soave, Natascia Brondino, Alessandra Bergami, Donatella Bolzon, Karin Furlato, Sara Garlassi, Alessandro Gavarini, Fabio Macchetti, Stefano Totaro, and Barbara Bianchi

TRIALS, 2012

Background: Multi-element interventions for first-episode psychosis (FEP) are promising, but have... more Background: Multi-element interventions for first-episode psychosis (FEP) are promising, but have mostly been conducted in non-epidemiologically representative samples, thereby raising the risk of underestimating the complexities involved in treating FEP in 'real-world' services. Methods/Design: The Psychosis early Intervention and Assessment of Needs and Outcome (PIANO) trial is part of a larger research program (Genetics, Endophenotypes and Treatment: Understanding early Psychosis -GET UP) which aims to compare, at 9 months, the effectiveness of a multi-component psychosocial intervention versus treatment as usual (TAU) in a large epidemiologically based cohort of patients with FEP and their family members recruited from all public community mental health centers (CMHCs) located in two entire regions of Italy (Veneto and Emilia Romagna), and in the cities of Florence, Milan and Bolzano. The GET UP PIANO trial has a pragmatic cluster randomized controlled design. The randomized units (clusters) are the CMHCs, and the units of observation are the centers' patients and their family members. Patients in the experimental group will receive TAU plus: 1) cognitive behavioral therapy sessions, 2) psycho-educational sessions for family members, and 3) case management. Patient enrolment will take place over a 1-year period. Several psychopathological, psychological, functioning, and service use variables will be assessed at baseline and follow-up. The primary outcomes are: 1) change from baseline to follow-up in positive and negative symptoms' severity and subjective appraisal; 2) relapse occurrences between baseline and follow-up, that is, episodes resulting in admission and/or any case-note records of re-emergence of positive psychotic symptoms. The expected number of recruited patients is about 400, and that of relatives about 300.

Research paper thumbnail of Music Therapy and Cognitive Rehabilitation in Schizophrenic Patients: A Controlled Study

Nordic Journal of Music Therapy, 2006