| Family Interventions for Schizophrenia |
Overall Rank: 8 |
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Family interventions should be offered to families of individuals with schizophrenia who have experienced a recent relapse or have persisting symptoms, and are living with or in close contact with their family. Key intervention elements include duration of at least 9 months, illness education, crisis intervention, emotional support, and training in how to cope with illness symptoms and related problems.
Domain : Patients with Psychosis
Psychosis refers to a serious mental disorder (such as schizophrenia) characterized by defective or lost contact with reality, often with hallucinations or delusions.
Additional Domain(s) : Accessibility, Family Involvement
Rationale
Psychological treatments should be an indispensable part of the treatment options available for service users and their families in the effort to promote recovery. Those with the best evidence of effectiveness are cognitive behavioural therapy and family interventions. These should be used to prevent relapse, to reduce symptoms, increase insight and promote adherence to medication.
Primary Reference
National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health. (2002). Schizophrenia: Core interventions in the treatment and management of schizophrenia in primary and secondary care. London, UK: National Institute for Clinical Excellence. Retrieved on Aug 3, 2006 from: http://www.nice.org.uk/page.aspx? o=CG001NICEguideline
Level of Evidence
I: Consistently higher quality studies specifically focused on primary mental health care.
- This is good, but must respect the patient’s privacy and wishes.
- Actionability in PHC depends on availability of community supports (e.g. local chapter of schizophrenia society)
- 80% of those with schizophrenia are residing with family or a caregiver. Many families/caregivers are exhausted and/or burnt out and suffer terribly. Very little consideration is given to family trauma, turmoil and the life-long greiving that occurs.
Variation in Results
|
Ratings-based Rank
| Relevance |
13 |
| Actionability |
14 |
| Overall Importance |
9 |
|
|
Stakeholder Rank
| Academics |
5 |
| Clinicians |
12 |
| Consumers |
26 |
| Decision Makers |
9 |
� |
|
Special Group Rank
| First Nations |
14 |
| Rural Areas |
13 |
| Federal Stakeholders |
6 |
|
Regional Rank
| BC |
AB |
SK |
MB |
ON |
QC |
NB |
NS |
PE |
NL |
YT |
NT |
NU |
| 6 |
14 |
17 |
27 |
26 |
22 |
29 |
25 |
78 |
2 |
108 |
56 |
65 |
|
|
Overall Rank
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