0000000000180211

AUTHOR

Maria Lacruz

The long-term outcome of 2 family intervention strategies in schizophrenia.

The different family-based interventions that have proven to be effective in treating people with schizophrenia present some therapeutic elements in common and differ in certain other respects, although to date, none of the proposed approaches have demonstrated to be clearly superior to each other in reduced relapse and readmission rates. Although the approaches based on relatives group therapies save considerable amounts of time, some data reveal better short-term results when the intervention focuses on the family unit and the participant patient. Objective: The aim of this study was to determine whether the clinical and social benefits observed in the short term would be maintained 5 yea…

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Do all people with schizophrenia receive the same benefit from different family intervention programs?

The study evaluated baseline characteristics that could be used to predict the outcome of family intervention in schizophrenia and focussed on identifying the subgroups of patients who were more likely to respond to one therapeutic modality than another. We conducted a controlled trial in which participants were assigned at random to either a Behavioral Family Intervention Group or a Relatives' Group. Patients in one catchment area, having suffered one psychotic relapse within the previous year and living with their families, were assessed by an independent evaluator at baseline and 12 months later. Some clinical and family factors such as the duration of illness, number of hospital admissi…

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Long-Term Outcome of Family Therapy in Schizophrenia

Introduction: Cognitive-behavioral family interventions in schizophrenia have proven to be effective in reducing relapse and readmission rates, and also appear to offer other benefits to patients and their families, at least in the short-term. Of particular interest to mental health services is ascertaining how long family interventions should last to maintain their benefits over the course of time. Objective: To determine whether or not the benefits of a family intervention in schizophrenia, conducted in the clinical practice framework, are sustainable over a five-year period. Method: A follow-up over a five-year period with a representative sample of patients and their families who, five …

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