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A controlled trial of a needs‐based, nurse‐led psychoeducation programme for C hinese patients with first‐onset mental disorders: 6 month follow up
Author(s) -
Chien WaiTong,
Leung SauFong
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
international journal of nursing practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.62
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 1440-172X
pISSN - 1322-7114
DOI - 10.1111/ijn.12015
Subject(s) - psychoeducation , medicine , mental illness , schizophrenia (object oriented programming) , mental health , randomized controlled trial , intervention (counseling) , psychiatry , family medicine , nursing
The study reported herein a randomized controlled trial was conducted to test the effectiveness of a nurse‐led, needs‐based psycho‐education program for Chinese patients with first‐onset mental illness over a 6‐month follow‐up. Ninety‐six families of Chinese patients with schizophrenia newly referred to one outpatient clinic in Hong Kong were randomly assigned to a nurse‐led psycho‐education program or usual outpatient care, each comprising 48 subjects. The patients’ mental health, illness insight, self‐efficacy, services utilization, and hospitalization rates were measured at recruitment and at one week and six months post‐intervention. The patients in the psycho‐education program reported significantly greater improvements in mental health, insights into treatment and illness, and hospitalization rates over the 6‐month follow‐up, when compared with those who received usual care. The findings provide evidence that the needs‐based, nurse‐led psycho‐education program can improve the health conditions and treatment insights of Chinese out‐patients with first‐onset mental illness.