Abstract
Social skills training uses learning theory principles to improve social functioning. Its aims are broader than simply preventing rehospitalization of chronic psychiatric patients by maintaining them in the community. Persons who participate in this treatment include patients with chronic mental illness, who are individuals characterized by poor social functioning, inadequate motivation, and deficient skills for coping with stress. It is difficult for such individuals to start participating in social skills training without some strategy being used to facilitate their participation. In the present paper, some effective interventions for this purpose are addressed, including using role-play to model skills, providing positive and corrective feedback, and assigning homework for patients who are having difficulty coping
