Treatment & Management of Schizophrenia (AQA A Level Psychology)

Researchers studied therapies for schizophrenia. They assessed the mood of two groups of participants before the participants received therapy. The same participants were assessed again after four weeks of receiving therapy.

Group 1 (Drug therapy group) received drug therapy alone.

Group 2 (Combined therapy group) received a combination of drug therapy and cognitive therapy.

The researchers assessed mood using a standardised test of mood. A low score indicated negative mood and a high score indicated positive mood. Scores ranged from 0 to 100. The lowest score was 24 and the highest score was 83.

Table 1 shows the results of the study after four weeks of therapy.

Table 1 Mean mood scores for Group 1 (Drug therapy group) and Group 2 (Combined therapy group) after four weeks of therapy

Explain why the data in Table 1 does not enable the researchers to draw proper conclusions about the effectiveness of therapy for the two groups. What should the researchers do about this?

In this study, the mood scores were assumed to be an interval level of measurement because the test of mood was standardised.

Explain how you could convert the mood scores from this study into:

i) ordinal data

and

ii) nominal data.

In a study of communication, researchers used a language rating scale to compare two groups of participants. Participants in Group A were a volunteer sample of people from a self-help group for people with schizophrenia. Participants in Group B, the control group, were a volunteer sample of people who attended a community centre.

The researchers used an inferential statistical test to see if there was a significant difference in language rating between the two groups.

Explain one reason why there might be a problem of bias and generalisation in this study. How could the researchers modify their study to deal with this problem?

Martine has schizophrenia. She is afraid because she believes that her care workers are trying to hurt her. She hears voices telling her to lock the doors and windows so the care workers cannot get into her house. She thinks about nothing else.

Explain how a cognitive behaviour therapist might treat Martine’s symptoms.