the effectiveness of narrative group therapy on resilience, functional disability and psychological distress of patients with chronic schizophrenia

This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of narrative group therapy on resilience, functional disability, and psychological distress of patients with chronic schizophrenia. the current research method was quasi-experimental with pre-test, post-test, and follow-up with control and experimental groups. the population of the research included men aged 20 to 60 with chronic schizophrenia in ardabil in 2023 who were hospitalized in treatment and rehabilitation centers for chronic psychotic patients, and their number was estimated to be around 250. convenience sampling was used due to the impracticality of gathering patients from other centers for group therapy. one treatment and rehabilitation center for chronic patients was selected through this method based on the availability of the required sample size and the level of cooperation. after reviewing the psychological files and considering the inclusion criteria, 30 participants were selected and randomly divided into experimental (n=15) and control (n=15) groups. both the control and experimental groups answered the connor-davidson resilience scale, the who disability assessment schedule, and the psychological distress scale before, after, and one month after the intervention, and their data were compared with the use of descriptive statistics and analysis of variance with repeated measurements analyzed in spss22 software platform. the results showed that resilience, functional disability, and psychological distress (anxiety, stress, and depression) have a significant difference from the pre-test stage to the follow-up stage. therefore, it can be concluded that narrative therapy leads to the improvement of resilience, functional disability, and psychological distress of chronic schizophrenia patients.