Psychoeducation with patients at-risk for schizophrenia--an exploratory pilot study.
OBJECTIVE
To introduce a psychoeducational program for patients of at-risk mental state and its preliminary evaluation.


METHODS
The psychoeducational program was designed as a purely informative intervention and consisted of seven 1-h sessions. Sixteen at-risk mental state patients (mean age 26+/-4.9 years, 12 males/4 females, mean score on prodromal psychopathology (Bonn Scale for Assessment of predictive Basis Symptoms [BSABS-P] 18.6+/-13.3) were investigated.


RESULTS
Comparisons of means before and after psychoeducation showed a significant reduction in psychopathology and fatalistic LoC as well as an improvement in knowledge, global functioning and various areas of QoL. A qualitative evaluation of the psychoeducational program also showed advantages from patients' perspectives.


CONCLUSIONS
This study provides empirical evidence for benefits of psychoeducation with patients of at-risk mental state for schizophrenia but is exploratory and has some limitations, e.g. the small sample size. Therefore the results have to be replicated in a randomized controlled trial in order to be able to demonstrate conclusively the effectiveness of psychoeducation in the pre-psychotic phase.


CONCLUSIONS
Results from this preliminary study suggest that psychoeducation is a promising intervention for patients of at-risk mental state for schizophrenia, and therefore worthy of more investigations.
Hauser
Marta
M
Early Recognition and Therapy Centre for Beginning Psychoses Berlin/Brandenburg (FETZ), Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité University Medicine Campus Mitte, Berlin, Germany.
Lautenschlager
Marion
M
Gudlowski
Yehonala
Y
Ozgürdal
Seza
S
Witthaus
Henning
H
Bechdolf
Andreas
A
Bäuml
Josef
J
Heinz
Andreas
A
Juckel
Georg
G
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017145:Models, Educational; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D016730:Program Development; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011594:Psychometrics; D036301:Qualitative Research; D011788:Quality of Life; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012559:Schizophrenia; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires