Welcome to the EPA 2022 Interactive Programme 

Organised by the EPA Section on Schizophrenia. The increased awareness that cognitive deficits in psychotic disorders are highly prevalent and have devastating functional consequences has expanded the target of therapeutic interventions beyond symptom management alone. The change in the focus of treatment for these disorders requires the implementation of cognitive assessment in routine clinical practice and in research. However, the routine use of a standardized neuropsychological battery is difficult to implement as the administration of a test battery requires more time and assessor training than is typically available in clinical settings. In addition, in clinical trials obtaining patient oriented information on cognitive functioning might supplement objectively collected neurocognitive and functional data. Interview-based measures of cognition such as the Cognitive Assessment Interview (CAI), a method for assessing cognitive functioning in patients with schizophrenia and related disorders, were recently shown to be reliable, valid, and sensitive to treatment effects. Recent validity work has also shown strong relationships for the CAI with objective cognitive assessment and multiple domains of role functioning such as independent living, social interactions, family relationships, and school/work functioning. The CAI’s interview-based approach to the assessment of cognition can also serve a useful role as co-primary measure in clinical trials.