"It may be somewhat more demanding sometimes, but also more interesting". Psychiatrists evaluate the impact of psychoeducation on outpatient treatment of schizophrenia

Purpose: Aim of the study is the analysis of the psychiatrists' evaluation of the impact of a psychoeducative group programme on patients with schizop hrenia and schizoaffective disorders, which was part of the project "Integr ated Treatment of Schizophrenia". Method: Semi-structured interviews were c arried out with 20 psychiatrists involved in outpatient treatment of patien ts who participated in the psychoeducative programme. Interviews were analy sed by means of qualitative content analysis. Results: For some patients ps ychiatrist noticed positive changes of the awareness for early signs of psy chosis, the illness behaviour and their attitudes regarding their disorder. Although only some of the psychiatrists believe that psychoeducation has a direct impact on the reduction of relapse rates and the necessity of inpat ient episodes, most of them regard the observed effects as an important imp rovement of the patients' ability to cope with their disorder. Conclusions: The effectiveness of psychoeducational programmes should not only be asses sed by their impact on the reduction of relapse rates and health service co st but also by its contribution to the patients' quality of life. The integ ration of psychoeducational programmes into existing outpatient services se ems to be an important task of future service planning.