Objectives: One of the group interventions in mental rehabilitation is recreational therapy. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of recreational therapy on the mental status of patients with schizophrenia.

Method: In this pre-test post-test interventional study, 45 clients with chronic schizophrenia hospitalized in the Razi Psychiatric Center in Tehran (Iran) were selected through a goal-directed sampling method. They were then assessed with Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) before being sent on a 10-day recreational trip to Meshed (Iran). All participants were reassessed afterwards with the aforemen-tioned scale. T-test was used for data analysis.

Results: Mean total BPRS scores decreased from 42.5 at pre-test to 29.8 post-test. T-test revealed the difference in mental state of patients with schizophrenia pre-test compared to post-test to be significant (p<0.001).

Conclusion: Recreational therapy as a non-physical intervention for rehabilitation can promote mental status of patients with chronic schizophrenia.