A Clinical Trial to Test the Feasibility of a Telehealth Psychoeducational Intervention for Persons With Schizophrenia and Their Families: Intervention and 3-Month Findings.

Abstract

The findings demonstrate the feasibility and impact of providing telehealth-based psychosocial treatments, including online therapy groups, to persons with schizophrenia and their families.

The Effectiveness of Telemental Health Applications: A Review

“…An RCT of an Internet-based approach found that the intervention group reported lower perceived stress than the usual care group. 57 One telephone-based intervention was associated with lower readmission rates and an increase in community survival, compared with control subjects, but the differences in this small study were not statistically significant. 58 In the other telephone study, (23) 12 (18) 11 (17) 10 (15) telemonitoring was associated with an improved rate of adherence to medication and a reduction in emergency visits and medical appointments.…”

“…20 Support provided by health professionals in the Internet studies included in our review varied. Approaches included therapist feedback but no face-to-face contact, 51,57,62 minimal therapist interaction by email, 29,50 and no therapist interaction, 53,65 though with provision of reminders, 31 or instruction on use of websites. 30 The Internet gives the opportunity to provide interventions for some conditions with little or no support, though the appropriate level of therapist interaction for particular applications requires further study.…”

Online, social media and mobile technologies for psychosis treatment: A systematic review on novel user-led interventions

“…On the other hand, in order for online interventions to bring about improved family outcomes they may need to specifically address carers' needs, distress and burden as opposed to focusing solely on the carer role or the management of psychosis. This is supported by the finding that patients had up to 7 times as much activity on the website as did their relatives in an online intervention focused on improving patient's clinical outcomes (Rotondi et al, 2005(Rotondi et al, , 2010.…”

“…Similarly, there was a significant reduction in positive psychotic symptoms in the intervention group at 12-month follow up (Rotondi et al, 2010). By contrast, there were no significant benefits for supporters in terms of perceived stress and social support at 3-month follow up (Rotondi et al, 2005) and these outcomes were not reported at 12-month follow up (Rotondi et al, 2010). Another 12-month study with historical control investigated the effects of online-based psychoeducation, online forums and real-time online sessions for relatives of patients with schizophrenia compared with a historical cohort of relatives receiving TAU (Glynn et al, 2010).…”

“…Specifically, poorer functioning and more severe psychotic symptoms were associated with more difficulties completing online psycho-education sessions (Anttila et al, 2012), while those dropping out of a text-messaging intervention had more negative symptoms, lower premorbid IQ and poorer self-reported living skills (Granholm et al, 2012). With respect to intervention features, one study incorporating online psycho-education and discussion forums for people with schizophrenia and their carers found that the time spent on forums was significantly higher compared with the time spent on psycho-educational activities (Rotondi et al, 2005(Rotondi et al, , 2010. Alvarez-Jimenez et al (2013) reported a high level of use and interest in online social networking by many young people with FEP, whereas some patients preferred undertaking interactive psycho-educational modules (Alvarez-Jimenez et al, 2013).…”