Interventions for families of individuals with schizophrenia - Maximising outcomes for their relatives

Recent best practice guidelines recommend the provision of psychosocial fam ily interventions for families of adults with schizophrenia. This article d elineates the various family interventions and the empirical base of these interventions. These interventions include psychoeducation, family educatio n, family consultation, and family support and advocacy groups. Although th e provision of these interventions incur additional costs, they also have t he potential for financial savings as a result of decreasing mental health service utilisation and improving outcomes for both the families and their ill relatives. The article concludes with recommendations for providers and organisations to improve effective relationships with families of adults with schizophren ia, Providers and organisations need to understand the needs of families, b ecome knowledgeable about interventions for families and direct families to appropriate resources if they are unable to provide the family interventio n themselves.