P-523 - Efficacy of psychoeducational family intervention for depression

Abstract

Studies on the efficacy of psychoeducational family intervention in patients with depression and their relatives are scarce. The effectiveness of this intervention in major depression has not been adequately investigated, probably because it is considered to be less burdensome by mental health professionals compared to schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. This study aims to test the efficacy of a psychoeducational family intervention on: 1) clinical status and social functioning of patients with major depression; 2) family burden and social network. The study has been carried out in 7 Italian mental health centers; 8 families in each center were randomly recruited and allocated to receive a psychoeducational intervention or an informative one. Fourty-four families were examined: 22 from the experimental group and 22 from the control group. A significative reduction in symptoms (p< 0.05), social functioning (p< 0.05), practical burden (p< 0.01), psychological burden (p< 0.05), and an improvement of social contacts (p< 0.05) and of professional support (p< 0.01) have been observed in patients; a significant reduction of practical burden (p< 0,01) and an improvement of social contacts (p< 0.01) and professional support (p< 0.01) have been found in their relatives. The results of this study outline that psychoeducational family intervention is effective in reducing family burden, improving relationships between family members and alleviating family distress. This intervention should be included in the routine management of patients with depression and their relatives.

Effectiveness of family psychoeducation for major depressive disorder: systematic review and meta-analysis

“…We obtained 67 relevant articles for full-text review, and a further 50 studies were excluded for the following reasons: 2 were not RCTs, 32 did not include eligible patients, 11 did not include eligible interventions, and 5 were ongoing and did not provide any actual data. 62–66 Thus, out of 17 remaining records, 9 studies 27,28,30–32,67–78 met the inclusion criteria for qualitative synthesis and 5 studies 72–78 met the inclusion criteria for the meta-analysis (supplementary Fig. 1)…”

“…Our findings, however, are the first to show quantitative results. Additionally, four studies 27,28,[30][31][32][67][68][69][70][71] identified during the present study that were not included in the meta-analysis report a significant effect of FPE on patients' depressive symptoms or general functioning. In particular, Shimazu et al reported high prevention of recurrence of MDD when applying FPE.…”

“…Hu Xiong et al 71 reported significant improvement (P < 0.01 at 24 months) in patients' depressive symptoms, measured on the HRSD. Fiorillo et al's study 28,67 reported a significant reduction in patients' symptom severity (P < 0.05) and family burden (P < 0.05) compared with the control group. Shimazu et al 27,[68][69][70] reported that patients who had achieved full or partial remission from an acute Family psychoeducation for major depressive disorder depressive episode had a significantly lower relapse rate during a 9-month follow-up period compared with those in the control group (risk ratio 0.17; 95% CI 0.04-0.66; number needed to treat 2.4; 95% CI 1.6-4.9).…”

“…Four studies 27,28,[30][31][32][67][68][69][70][71] of ten records had no data available for our meta-analysis. Three studies 27,28,[30][31][32][67][68][69][70] did not include adequate means and standard deviations. One study 71 did not provide detailed contents of the FPE intervention.…”

Effect of Mindful Parenting Program in Reducing Psychological Burden on Mother with Cerebral Palsy Children

“…Several studies have proven to reduce the psychological burden. Psychoeducation programs reduce the psychological burden on caregiver Alzheimer (Martín-Carrasco et al, 2009), reduce the burden of depressed families (Prisco et al, 2012), and reduce the psychological burden of the family caregiver diabetes mellitus (Ambarawati, 2015). Intervention-based cognitive-behavioral approaches can reduce the burden of care on Alzheimer's families (Marriott, 2000).…”