Supporting Patients by Family Education in Psychotic Illness: A Prospective Cohort Study

Summary

Background: A lack of education, resources, and support for family carers of young adults with psychotic illnesses leaves them ill-equipped to support their loved one. Although family support groups exist, few groups offer evidence-based, skills-focused, psychoeducation taught by certified professionals and provided on a public-health level. By equipping families with skills and knowledge, public healthcare harnesses a powerful ally to maintain community stabilization.

Aims: The primary study goal is to implement a psychoeducation intervention for family carers supporting young adults with psychosis to reduce family burden and foster community stabilization of service users.

Methods: A longitudinal pre-post design will be used to assess the long-term effectiveness of the psychoeducation intervention for family carers supporting a young adult with psychosis on service utilization and functional indexes. Nine expert-reviewed, and family peer-informed psychoeducation modules are administered in 2-hour sessions over 9 weeks to family carers.

Conclusion: Presenting the novel approach of an expert-reviewed, peer-informed psychoeducation intervention for family carers, with a focus on knowledge and skill development, the researchers contribute to literature and best practice in patient and family-centered care.

Conditions

• Psychotic Disorders
• Family Members
• Anosognosia
• Paranoia

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Supporting Patients by Family Education in Psychotic Illness Group

Psychoeducation for families supporting young adults with psychosis.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Alberta Health services

  collaborator OTHER

• Families Supporting Adults with Mental Illness-Alberta

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• University of Alberta

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Melanie Robles, md · University of Alberta

• Adam Abba-Aji, MD · Alberta Health services

Study Design

Allocation

NA

Purpose

SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Masking

NONE

Model

SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age

17 Years

Max Age

27 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2022-09-01

Primary Completion

2026-09-01

Completion

2026-09-01

Countries

• Canada

Study Locations