Preliminary Outcomes of Digital Cognitive Remediation Therapy for Neurocognitive Deficits in Schizophrenia: A Pilot Study

Background: Patients with schizophrenia often experience cognitive impairments that significantly impact their social and occupational functioning, with limited response to pharmacological treatments. Digital cognitive remediation therapy (DCRT) has shown potential in improving neurocognitive function. This exploratory pilot study examined the feasibility and preliminary effectiveness of DCRT in improving neurocognitive deficits among long-term inpatients diagnosed with schizophrenia. Methods: Using a single-group pre-post interventional design, ten participants diagnosed with schizophrenia were recruited from a tertiary care psychiatric rehabilitation centre using purposive sampling. Inclusion criteria were hospitalisation for at least 6 months, ages 30–50 and a minimum of eighth-grade education. The DCRT intervention using COGBRAIN software was delivered twice weekly in 45-min sessions over 6 months, alongside standard psychiatric treatment. Neurocognitive assessments were conducted at baseline and post-intervention using the NIMHANS Neurocognitive Battery. Data were retrospectively extracted from medical records and analysed using per cent change and non-parametric statistical tests. Results: Significant improvements in neurocognitive deficits were observed across neurocognitive domains ( P < 0.05), including mental speed, focused attention, sustained attention, response inhibition, comprehension, verbal learning, immediate recall of logical memory and delayed recall. Mean improvement was 70.1%, with participants completing an average of 36 sessions. Effect sizes indicated clinically significant changes across domains, with strong positive correlations between DCRT sessions and mental speed ( r = 0.79) and verbal learning ( r = 0.91). Conclusions: Preliminary findings suggest that DCRT may improve neurocognitive functioning in long-term inpatients with schizophrenia. While promising, these preliminary results should be interpreted with caution, given the absence of a control group, small sample size, practice effects, concurrent treatments and retrospective design, which limit causal inference. These exploratory findings need to be replicated with larger samples and randomised controlled trials using prospective designs before making clinical recommendations.