Designing and validation of a yoga-based intervention for schizophrenia

Context: Schizophrenia is a chronic mental illness which causes significant distress and dysfunction. Yoga has been found to be effective as an add-on therapy in schizophrenia. Modules of yoga used in previous studies were based on individual researcher's experience. Aim: This study aimed to develop and validate a specific generic yoga-based intervention module for patients with schizophrenia. The study was conducted at NIMHANS Integrated Centre for Yoga (NICY). Materials and methods: A yoga module was designed based on traditional and contemporary yoga literature as well as published studies. The yoga module along with three case vignettes of adult patients with schizophrenia was sent to 10 yoga experts for their validation. Results: Experts (n = 10) gave their opinion on the usefulness of a yoga module for patients with schizophrenia with some modifications. In total, 87% (13 of 15 items) of the items in the initial module were retained, with modification in the remainder as suggested by the experts. Conclusion: A specific yoga-based module for schizophrenia was designed and validated by experts. Further studies are needed to confirm efficacy and clinical utility of the module. Additional clinical validation is suggested.