Treatment for Social Cognition Disorders (T-ScEmo) in Patients With Acquired Brain Injury and Comorbid Neuropsychiatric Problems

Acquired brain injury (ABI) can lead to a wide range of physical, cognitive, emotional, and social problems. In the recent years, more research has been conducted to examine the impact of ABI on social cognition. Approximately 13%-40% of patients with ABI experience difficulties with social cognition. Social cognition refers to the cognitive processes involved in perceiving, interpreting, and responding to social information. When these processes are disrupted, patients may struggle to (1) understand social situations, (2) interpret the emotions and intentions of others, and (3) respond appropriately in social interactions. This not only results in reduced social engagement for ABI patients, but also places a burden on relationships and proxies. Therefore, it is important to effectively treat social cognition problems in ABI patients. To date, only a few treatment studies aimed at improving social cognition have been conducted. In 2017, a multifaceted treatment for impairments in social cognition and emotion regulation (T-ScEmo) is developed, which was proven effective in improving multiple aspects of social cognition and emotion regulation. T-ScEmo is now considered as an evidence-based treatment for patients with traumatic brain injury and social cognition problems. However, ABI patients and comorbid neuropsychiatric problems have been excluded in most studies exploring the treatment of social cognition problems after ABI. It is important that the effect of T-ScEmo in this particular group is examined, since 25%-88% of the ABI patients experience neuropsychiatric problems. Comorbidities are thus very prevalent in this ABI population. Unfortunately, up till now there are no studies examining the effect of T-ScEmo in patients with ABI, comorbid neuropsychiatric problems and social cognition problems. Therefore, the aim of the present study is threefold: 1. To examine the effect of a treatment for impairments in social cognition and emotion regulation (T-ScEmo) on social cognition problems; 2. To examine the effect of T-ScEmo on social interaction, communication and neuropsychiatric behavioral problems; 3. To examine the effect of T-ScEmo on quality of partner relationship in patients with ABI and comorbid psychiatric problems.

NCT Number	NCT06923683
Lead Sponsor	Ggz Oost Brabant Collaborators: Maastricht University, UMC Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands
Conditions	Acquired Brain Injury, Neuropsychiatric Symptoms
Enrollment	8 participants
Start Date	2025-01-01
Primary Completion	2027-12 (estimated)
Study Completion	2027-12 (estimated)
Updated on ClinicalTrials.gov	2025-04-17