Digital Interventions for Cognition in Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders: A Scoping Review

Schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSDs) are a major cause of functional impairment in everyday life. Cognitive impairments are a core symptom of SSDs and among the most treatment-resistant. Unfortunately, these symptoms substantially impair social and occupational functioning and result in significant healthcare costs. Clinically-based psychosocial interventions for cognition impairments have demonstrated efficacy yet face implementation barriers, including limited scalability, high cost, the requirement for specialized clinicians, and geographic inaccessibility in many regions. These barriers are particularly daunting in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where the majority of individuals with psychosis remain untreated. Digital technologies offer a scalable, cost-effective approach to provide interventions to underserved populations. Digital interventions also hold promise for reducing reliance on specialized clinicians and increase accessibility in geographically isolated and resource-constrained settings, which is key for sustainable delivery models in LMICs. Moreover, digital interventions enable on-demand access to therapeutic tools and can provide objective data collection and real-time feedback. This scoping review aims to comprehensively map the existing evidence regarding digital interventions for cognitive impairments in SSDs, synthesize evidence on feasibility, implementation, and efficacy, identify critical research gaps, and provide actionable evidence to inform future implementation research and intervention development.