Short-Term Family-Focused Psycho- Educational Program for Bipolar Mood Disorder in Mashhad
Year: 2009
Type: article
Study designs: Randomized Controlled Trial, Clinical Trial
Abstract: Background: Bipolar mood disorder type 1 is one of the mostserious psychiatric disorders. We aimed to assess the efficacyof a short-term family–focused treatment for patients with bipolarmood disorder type 1 in a one-year follow-up period.Methods: Sixty patients with bipolar mood disorder and acutemania episodes who referred to Ibn-e-Sina Psychiatric Hospitalin Mashhad were recruited. Half of them were randomly assignedto the psycho-education group. Their available adultfamily members received a psycho-educational training sessionbefore the patients' discharge from the hospital. All patients receivedconcurrent appropriate pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy.All the patients were evaluated by a blind home-visit teamevery 3 months for a period of one year. The evaluation includedthe number of psychiatric visits, patients' adherence, relapsestatus, number of re-hospitalizations, and time to relapse.Results: Fifty-seven patients completed the trial. In the experimentalgroup, there were four patients with relapse(13.79%) and in the control group nine patients (31.58%) hadrelapse of the disorder (P=0.006). The mean time of takingmedications in the education group was 11.41 months. Thistime was 9.14 months in the control group (P<0.001). Therewas also a significant difference between the two groups interms of frequency of psychiatric visits (P<0.001).Conclusion: Short–term family-focused psycho-education isan effective adjunct to pharmacotherapy for bipolar mood disorder.Further studies are needed to evaluate the efficacy andcost-effectiveness of long-term family-focused psychoeducationaltreatment for patients with bipolar mood disorder.
Institution: Mashhad University of Medical Sciences
Language: English
Subfield: Psychiatry and Mental health
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2275535612