Telepsychiatry and carer education for schizophrenia.
OBJECTIVE
Despite the scientific evidence, most families of people with schizophrenia in Europe never receive a carer education programme. We evaluated whether a carer education course delivered by telepsychiatry was as effective as a carer education course delivered in situ.


METHODS
We delivered the carer education course for schizophrenia simultaneously to a carers group in rural north west Ireland (remote) via three ISDN lines and live to a carers group in a city (host). We compared knowledge gains using the Knowledge Questionnaire before and after each course.


RESULTS
Fifty-six carers of people with schizophrenia participated in the trial. At baseline, participants at the remote and host centers did not differ in terms of knowledge about schizophrenia. After the course, carers at both centers improved significantly and the knowledge gains between groups were equivalent at 6 weeks.


CONCLUSIONS
Telepsychiatry can deliver effective carer education programmes about schizophrenia and may provide one solution to bridging the chasm between scientific evidence and clinical reality.
Haley
C
C
Donegal Mental Health Services, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal, Ireland.
O'Callaghan
E
E
Hill
S
S
Mannion
N
N
Donnelly
B
B
Kinsella
A
A
Murtagh
A
A
Turner
N
N
D017028:Caregivers / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D019114:Remote Consultation; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000628:therapy*; D012944:Social Support; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods*