In rural China, family intervention should focus on improving the relatives' recognition of illness, the caring attitude towards the patients, treatment compliance, relapse prevention, and the training of the patients' social functioning. This trial, one of the largest in the literature, has shown that psychoeducational family intervention is effective and suitable for psychiatric rehabilitation in Chinese rural communities.

Family intervention is an effective method of improving treatment compliance and should be an important part of community mental health care.

Duration of illness before treatment may be an important predictor of course in schizophrenia. Early treatment for the patients may produce higher level of improvement in prognosis. Education intervention and community-based service are urgent priorities for these patients.