Recruiting

MST

Sponsor:

Columbia University

Code:

NCT05805397

Conditions

Schizophrenia

Schizoaffective Disorder

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 65

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Interventions

Motivation Skills Training

Healthy Behaviors Control Group

Study Details

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

Study ID

NCT05805397

Start date

Apr 15, 2024

Status verified date

Nov, 2025

Completion date

Nov 30, 2026

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Oct 31, 2026

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 65

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Age 18-65
2. DSM-5 Diagnosis of Schizophrenia or Schizoaffective Disorder
3. Medically and psychiatrically stable outpatient status
4. English Fluency

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Indications of Intellectual Disability as documented in medical history or measured by < 70 premorbid full scale Intelligence Quotient (IQ) estimate
2. Severe substance use within the past three months determined by DSM-5 criteria
3. Neurologic condition causing brain disease
4. 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

Study Design

Enrollment

80 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Treatment

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: Motivation Skills Training (MST)

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

active comparator: Healthy Behaviors Control Group

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

Interventions

Motivation Skills Training

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.

Healthy Behaviors Control Group

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.

Primary outcome measure

  • Motivation and Pleasure Scale (MAP) [ Time Frame: 5 months ]
  • Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS) [ Time Frame: 5 months ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Alice Saperstein, PhD

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

Locations

The Bridge, Inc.

Recruiting

New York, New York, United States, 10025

More Information

Sponsor

Columbia University

Last update posted

Nov 5, 2025

Last verified

Nov, 2025

Keywords

  • Mental Illness
  • Motivation Skills

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-10. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by Columbia University on 2025-11-05.