Family Psychoeducation Background

Family members and other persons involved in the lives and care of adults who have serious mental illnesses often provide emotional support, case management, financial assistance, advocacy, and housing to their mentally ill loved ones. Although serving in this capacity can be rewarding, it may be very difficult. Family members often have limited access to the resources and information they need. Research conducted over the past decade has shown that patients' outcomes improve when the needs of family members for information, clinical guidance, and support are met.

Several models have evolved to address the needs of families of persons with mental illness: individual consultation and family psychoeducation conducted by a mental health professional, various forms of more traditional family therapy, and a range of professionally led short-term family education programs, sometimes referred to as therapeutic education. Also available are family-led information and support classes or groups, such as those provided by the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI). Family psychoeducation has a deep enough research and dissemination base to be considered an evidenced-based practice. However, the term "psychoeducation" can be misleading: family psychoeducation includes many therapeutic elements, often uses a consultative framework, and shares characteristics with other types of family interventions.

A variety of family psychoeducation programs have been developed by mental health care professionals over the past two decades . These programs have been offered as part of an overall clinical treatment plan for individuals who have mental illness. They last nine months to five years, are usually diagnosis specific, and focus primarily on consumer outcomes, although the well-being of the family is an essential intermediate outcome. Family psychoeducation models differ in their format-for example, multiple-family, single-family, or mixed sessions-the duration of treatment, consumer participation, location-for example, clinic based, home, family practice, or other community settings-and the degree of emphasis on didactic, cognitive-behavioral, and systemic techniques.