DESIGNING PSYCHOEDUCATIONAL SERVICES FOR SPOUSES OF PERSONS WITH SERIOUS MENTAL-ILLNESS

Psychoeducational and support groups for families of mentally ill adul ts may not be adequately addressing the needs of spouses with mentally ill partners. This paper describes a group psychoeducational approach which has been developed and implemented through collaboration betwee n professionals and well spouses. The high attrition of spouses in a g eneral family psychoeducational group was dramatically reduced in this spouse psychoeducational group. Significant improvements were found i n well spouse knowledge about the illness and coping strategies, perso nal distress, and negative attitudes towards the ill spouse over the 3 -month intervention and at 1-year followup. Implications for practitio ners and researchers are discussed.