Companion program by university students and behavioral change in female chronic schizophrenics

Abstract

Experimental evidence showed that university students who participated in the "companion program" produced positive changes in chronic schizophrenic patients. This study reported the number of visits in order to produce observable behavioral changes. Thirty-six female patients hospitalized for at least 3 years were visited by university students once, twice, or three times weekly for 7 weeks. A control group received no visit. Results revealed that only functional behavior in the three visits per week group showed significant improvement, which suggests that a minimum of three visits of half an hour each per week is required to produce behavioral changes in female chronic schizophrenic patients.