The Texas Medication Algorithm Project Patient and Family Education Program: A consumer-guided initiative

Educating patients with mental illness and their families about the illness and its treatment is essential to successful medication (disease) manageme nt. Specifically, education provides patients and families with the backgro und they need to participate in treatment planning and implementation as fu ll "partners" with clinicians. Thus, education increases the probability th at appropriate and accurate treatment decisions will be made and that a tre atment regimen will be followed. The Texas Medication Algorithm Project (TM AP) has incorporated these concepts into its philosophy of care and accordi ngly created a Patient and Family Education Program (PFEP) to complement th e utilization of medication algorithms for the treatment of schizophrenic, bipolar, and major depressive disorders. This article describes how a team of mental health consumers, advocates, and professionals developed and impl emented the PFEP In keeping with the TMAP philosophy of care, consumers wer e true partners in the program's development and implementation. They not o nly created several components of the program and incorporated the consumer perspective, but they also served as program trainers and advocates. Initi ally, PFEP provides basic and subsequently more in-depth information about the illness and its treatment, including such topics as symptom monitoring and management and self-advocacy with one's treatment team. It includes wri tten, pictorial, videotaped, and other media used in a phased manner by cli nicians and consumer educators, in either individual or group formats.