PSSCogRehab is a program package that offers solutions for cognitive deficits that are found in many chronic psychiatric disorders. Redone and updated in 2012, it is currently marketed in English, Spanish, and Korean language versions.
PSSCogRehab is divided into eight modules that address four categories of cognitive functioning: Foundations, Memory, Visuo-spatial, and Problem-Solving. Each module utilizes a number of specific tasks that can be matched to users’ skill level in order to improve functioning through practice. It also allows users and therapists to track users’ progress through each module.
Because PSSCogRehab is recommended for use as part of a comprehensive treatment program, it is only available for purchase by qualified providers. More information about the product can be found at the company site, Psychological Software Service (PSS)
MARS score
Mean: 2.70
Subjective score: 1.25
Perceived impact: 1.17
Factors
Engagement: 2.40
Functionality: 3.33
Aesthetics: 1.83
Information: 3.25
Rater: Queensland University
Date of rating: August 2016
The MARS scale is a 0 to 5 point scale. More information about the MARS scale
Research
Research on PSSCogRehab includes the following studies (some require payment for access):
- Bell, M., Bryson, G., Greig, T., Corcoran, C. & Wexler, B.E. (2001). Neurocognitive enhancement therapy with work therapy: Effects on neuropsychological test performance. Archives of General Psychiatry, 58, 763-768.
- “Cognitive deficits in schizophrenia limit social and vocational functioning and persist after treatment with currently available pharmacotherapies. It is therefore important to evaluate new treatment approaches for these debilitating aspects of the illness.”
- “…cognitive retraining increased neuropsychological functioning to a degree not achievable from the nonspecific cognitive stimulation that comes from work activity alone.”
- Burda, P.C., Starkey, T.W., Dominguez, F. & Vera, V. (1994). Computer assisted cognitive rehabilitation of chronic psychiatric inpatients. Computers in Human Behavior, 10(3), 359-368.
- Elgamal, S., McKinnon, M. C., Ramakrishnan, K., Joffe, R. T., & MacQueen, G. (2007). Successful computer-assisted cognitive remediation therapy in patients with unipolar depression: A proof of principle study. Psychological Medicine: A Journal of Research in Psychiatry and the Allied Sciences, 37(9), 1229-1238. doi:10.1017/S0033291707001110. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17610766
- “The main finding in this study is the improvement in cognitive performance observed in a group of patients with MDD following 10 weeks of cognitive remediation therapy. The improvement exceeded that observed over the same time period in a group of matched patients and healthy controls who did not receive the intervention and improvement was apparent on a range of tests targeting attention, verbal learning and memory, psychomotor speed and executive function.”
- Kurtz, M.M. (2003). NeuroCognitive Rehabilitation for Schizophrenia. Current Psychiatry Reports, 5(4), 303-310.
- Pilarc, M. J. (2000). Use of PSS CogRehab to treat psychiatric inpatients diagnosed with chronic schizophrenia. Journal of Cognitive Rehabilitation, 18(1), 8-10. (not a peer-reviewed journal)