title: Pre-post changes in psychosocial functioning among relatives of patients with depressive disorders after Brief Multifamily Psychoeducation: a pilot study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Depressive disorder is often chronic and recurrent, and results in a heavy psychosocial burden on the families of patients with this disorder. This study aims to examine the effectiveness of brief multifamily psychoeducation designed to alleviate their psychosocial burden.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty-two relatives of patients with major depressive disorder participated in an open study testing the effectiveness of brief multifamily psychoeducation. The intervention consisted of four sessions over the course of 6 weeks. Outcome measures focused on emotional distress, care burden and Expressed Emotion (EE).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The emotional distress, care burden and EE of the family all showed statistically significant improvements from baseline to after the family intervention. The proportion of relatives scoring 9 or more on K6, which indicates possible depressive or anxiety disorder, decreased from sixteen relatives (50.0%) at baseline, to only 3 relatives (9.3%) after the intervention.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study suggests that brief multifamily psychoeducation is a useful intervention to reduce the psychosocial burden of the relatives of patients with depressive disorder. Further evaluation of family psychoeducation for relatives of patients with depressive disorder is warranted.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, Nagoya City University School of Nursing, Nagoya, Japan. katsuki@med.nagoya-cu.ac.jp
authors.forename: Fujika
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Katsuki
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Takeuchi
authors.forename: Mizuho
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Konishi
authors.forename: Megumi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sasaki
authors.forename: Yuka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Murase
authors.forename: Atsuko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Naito
authors.forename: Hiroko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Toyoda
authors.forename: Masako
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Nao
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shiraishi
authors.forename: Yosuke
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kubota
authors.forename: Yoshiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yoshimatsu
authors.forename: Toshiaki A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Furukawa
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology; D017281:Cost of Illness; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D019260:Expressed Emotion; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005192:Family Health; D005196:Family Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011614:Psychotherapy, Brief / Q000379:methods; D012917:Social Adjustment; D016896:Treatment Outcome