Abstract
Family psychoeducation provides a combination of education about schizophrenia, family support, crisis intervention, and problem-solving-skills training. This one-year prospective follow-up field study study assessed the influence of a short-term, clinically based, and profesionally led family psychoeducation program on a one-year relapse rate.
A total of 120 patients were recruited upon discharge from two psychiatric hospitals in Prague: (1) Site A (N = 86), where family psychoeducation is offered to all patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders; and (2) Site B (N = 34), where no such program was offered. Compared to nonparticipants, psychoeducation participants had a shorter average length of rehospitalization stay (5.89 days, vs.17.78 days, p = 0.045) in a one-year follow-up after discharge.
The probability of rehospitalization during a one-year follow-up was higher for patients from the site that did not provide psychoeducation.