Preferences for treatment during a first psychotic episode

Psychiatric services providing care for patients and their families confron ted with a first psychotic episode need to be sensitive towards patients' a nd families' preferences. Ten patients, ten family members and ten professi onal caregivers composed a list of 42 preferences in the treatment for a fi rst psychotic episode. In total 99 patients, 100 family members and 263 pro fessional caregivers evaluated these preferences, thus producing an order o f priorities. There appears to be considerable agreement among the groups o f respondents regarding their top ten priories, especially concerning infor mation on diagnosis and medication. However, we found important differences between groups of respondents. The results suggest that in psychiatric ser vices great attention should be given to psychoeducation and early outpatie nt intervention. (C) 2001 Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.