A Large Pragmatic Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial of a Multi-element Psychosocial Intervention for Early Psychosis

Summary

Multi-element interventions for first-episode psychosis (FEP) are promising but have mostly been conducted on non epidemiologically representative samples in experimental settings, raising the risk thereby of underestimating the complexities involved in treating onset psychosis in "real world" services. The PIANO Trial (Psychosis early Intervention and Assessment of Needs and Outcome) is part of a more broad-based research program (Genetics, Endophenotype and Treatment: Understanding early Psychosis - GET UP) and aims to: 1) test, at 9 months, the effectiveness, as compared to treatment as usual (TAU) of multi-component psychosocial intervention on a large epidemiologically-based cohort of FEP patients and their family members recruited from a 10 million inhabitant catchment area; 2) identify barriers that may hinder its feasibility and patient/family conditions that can render this type of treatment ineffective or inappropriate; 3) identify clinical, psychological, and environmental and service predictors of treatment effectiveness in FEP.

Study participants will be recruited from Community Mental Health Centers (CMHCs) operating for the Italian National Health Service and located in several Northern and Central Regions of Italy. The GET UP PIANO Trial has a pragmatic cluster randomized controlled design, which is considered the gold standard approach for trials that evaluate complex interventions implemented at the institutional level, with the aim of improving health. The assignment units (clusters) are the CMHCs, and the units of observation and analysis are the Centers' patients and their family members.

Patients in the experimental group will receive TAU plus: (a) Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT) sessions, (b) psycho-educational sessions for family members, and c) a case manager, to serve as the patient's referent. Patient enrollment will take place over a 1 year interval, after a 3 month-long piloting. The fidelity of the experimental interventions and the characteristics of TAU will be regularly monitored. Several psychopathological, psychological, functioning and service use variables will be assessed at baseline and 9 month follow-up by independent evaluators. Assuming an expected incidence rate of 17/100.000 per year for functional psychoses (as previously estimated in Italy), the investigators expect to recruit about 800 patients, and 600 relatives. Assuming an attrition rate of about 50%, the size of the trial would detect at 9 months a difference in terms of primary outcome from 25% for the TAU arm to 10% for the intervention arm, with a power of 80%.

Conditions

• Psychosis

Interventions

OTHER

Treatment As Usual (TAU)

Services participating in the trial are routine public Community Mental Health Centres (CMHCs), which operate within the Italian National Health Service. Multi-disciplinary teams operating these CMHCs provide a wide range of integrated programmes, including inpatient care, day care, rehabilitation, outpatient care, home visits, 24-hour emergency services, and residential facilities. Standard care for FEP patients generally consists of personalized outpatient psychopharmacological treatment, combined with non-specific supportive clinical management at the CMHC level. Family interventions generally consist of non-specific informal support/educational sessions. Both specialized individual psychotherapeutic interventions for patients (included CBT) and specialized psycho-educational or cognitive-oriented family interventions are usually not provided, due to lack of trained professionals.

BEHAVIORAL

TAU+CBT for pts+Family Intervention+CM.

The experimental treatment package is administered by the CMHC staff, after training and with ongoing supervision by experts. Cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) is based on the model developed by Kuipers in 1998 and Garety in 2008. A total of 20-30 CBT sessions per patient will be delivered, with weekly sessions during months 1-3 and fortnightly over the following 6 months. Family Intervention is based on the model proposed by Leff in 1982 and further developed by Kuipers in 2002. It includes a total of 10-15 sessions with each individual family: 6 in months 1-3, and at least 1 session/month in the 6 months afterwards. Every patient/family will have a dedicated Case Manager, who will coordinate all planned interventions. Specific training programs have been developed, with assessment of the staff competence. Detailed Manuals based on international standards have been developed and will be used. Fidelity will be measured at the end of the trial.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Universita di Verona

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Mirella RUGGERI, M.D. · Universita' di Verona

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

54 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2010-04-30

Primary Completion

2012-05-31

Completion

2012-05-31

Countries

• Italy

Study Locations