Effectiveness of Motivation Skills Training (MST)

NCT05805397 | Recruiting

• 3 other identifiers: AAAU84351R34MH129552-01A18394-2
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 80
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 2

Brief Summary

This study will take place at four outpatient clinics serving adults with serious mental illness. Informed consent will be obtained from N=80 individuals with a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Illnesses (DSM)-5 diagnosis of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder meeting inclusion/exclusion criteria to participate in a randomized controlled trial comparing Motivation Skills Training (MST) to a Healthy Behaviors Control (HBC) group. Eligible participants will receive a baseline assessment including sociodemographic and psychosocial assessments, measures of motivation, goal attainment, and quality of life, as well as measures of executive skills, community functioning, and psychiatric symptoms severity. Both MST and HBC will be implemented as once weekly group therapies. The treatment phase is approximately 12-14 weeks. MST will focus on motivation knowledge and self-regulation skills while HBC will focus on physical health and health-related skills.

Conditions

Schizophrenia; Schizoaffective Disorder

Keywords

Mental Illness; Motivation Skills

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Motivation and Pleasure Scale (MAP)

  MAP is a 9-item interviewer rated measure of motivation, pleasure, and engagement in work, school, recreational and social activities. The MAP total score is the sum of all items with a possible range from 0 to 36, with lower scores indicating better outcomes.

  5 months

• Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS)

  GAS measures progress towards personal goal attainment, rated along a continuum of predetermined successful outcomes on a scale from 0 to 10. A single rating is used to quantify goal attainment with higher scores indicating better outcomes.

  5 months

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Heinrich's Quality of Life Scale (QLS)

  5 months

Other Outcomes (3)

• Barkley Deficits in Executive Functioning Scale - Short Form (BDEFS-SF)

  5 months

• Specific Levels of Functioning (SLOF)

  5 months

• Structured Clinical Interview for the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (SCI-PANSS)

  5 months

Study Arms (2)

Motivation Skills Training (MST)

EXPERIMENTAL

MST is a weekly group-based skills training intervention that aims to improve knowledge about one's level and sources of motivation, the ability to monitor and regulate (understand and manage) motivation so that one can better initiate and sustain goal-directed behavior

Behavioral: Motivation Skills Training

Healthy Behaviors Control Group

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

HBC is a weekly group-based intervention that provides psychoeducation and skills training to help individuals improve physical health

Behavioral: Healthy Behaviors Control Group

Interventions

Motivation Skills Training BEHAVIORAL

Participants will complete a baseline assessment, receive weekly MST sessions in a group format for a duration of 12 weeks, and will then repeat the assessment battery from baseline immediately following treatment completion and 2-months after.

Also known as: MST

Motivation Skills Training (MST)

Healthy Behaviors Control Group BEHAVIORAL

Participants will complete a baseline assessment, receive weekly HBC sessions in a group format for a duration of 12 weeks, and will repeat the assessment battery from baseline immediately following treatment completion and 2-months after.

Also known as: HBC

Healthy Behaviors Control Group

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 65 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Age 18-65
• DSM-5 Diagnosis of Schizophrenia or Schizoaffective Disorder
• Medically and psychiatrically stable outpatient status
• English Fluency

You may not qualify if:

• Indications of Intellectual Disability as documented in medical history or measured by \< 70 premorbid full scale Intelligence Quotient (IQ) estimate
• Severe substance use within the past three months determined by DSM-5 criteria
• Neurologic condition causing brain disease
• Mild to severe cognitive impairment associated with possible dementia measured by a Mini Mental Status Exam score below 20 in individuals ages 60 and older

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Columbia University: lead
• National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH): collaborator

Study Sites (2)

The Bridge, Inc.

New York, New York, 10025, United States

RECRUITING

New York State Office of Mental Health

New York, New York, 10032, United States

NOT YET RECRUITING

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Schizophrenia; Psychotic Disorders; Mental Disorders

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorders

Study Officials

• Alice Saperstein, PhD

  Columbia University

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Central Study Contacts

Alice Saperstein, PhD

CONTACT

646-774-8464; Alice.Saperstein@nyspi.columbia.edu

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: DOUBLE
• Who Masked: INVESTIGATOR, OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Assistant Professor of Medical Psychology

Model Details: Randomized group assignment

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: March 21, 2023
• First Posted: April 10, 2023
• Study Start: April 15, 2024
• Primary Completion (Estimated): October 31, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): November 30, 2026
• Last Updated: November 5, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-11

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Time Frame: Unpublished de-identified data will be submitted prior to study completion and will be shared within one year after project completion, or when the data are published, whichever is earlier
• Access Criteria: All data and materials will be made available for research to investigators working under a Federal Wide Assurance who meet security measures and data use agreement criteria associated with the NIMH Data Archive.

Locations

US (2)