Psychoeducational psychotherapy for schizophrenic patients and their key relatives or care‐givers: results of a 2‐year follow‐up

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Abstract
Psychoeducational medication management training (PMT), cognitive psychotherapy (CP) and key‐person counselling (KC) were carried out in various combinations in this randomized, controlled intervention study of schizophrenic out‐patients (according to DSM‐III‐R). Special design characteristics of the study were a control group consisting of non‐specifically treated patients and a 2‐year follow‐up after completion of treatment in order to evaluate medium‐term effects. A total of 132 patients underwent a follow‐up examination 2 years after completion of treatment and were evaluated with an intention‐to‐treat approach. In the second follow‐up year, all treatment groups had lower but not significantly different relapse rates compared to the control group. The most intensive treatment (PMT+CP+KC) produces a clinically relevant reduction in rehospitalization rate (a 26% reduction compared to the control group). In comparison with the non‐specifically treated control group, whose original effect decreased, at least a medium‐term therapeutic effect was recorded in the treatment groups.