Efficacy of a Short Psychoeducational Group Intervention for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Risk in Patients With Severe Mental Disorder: A Randomized Trial.

Abstract

Psychoeducational interventions to improve healthy habits regarding cardiovascular risk (CVR) in people with a severe mental disorder showed scarce results in the literature. In this article, we showed the results of a randomized clinical trial including 80 adult outpatients (mainly psychosis spectrum) with moderate to very high CVR. A short-term psychoeducational group intervention to improve healthy habits regarding CVR was added to their as-usual individual psychoeducational schedule. With an intention-to-treat analysis, we expected improvements in the different parameters. Baseline and 1-year follow-up included CVR factors and indexes (REGICOR, SCORE, and DORICA). Basal characteristics did not show statistically significant differences between the groups. No significant improvements in any of the variables studied were observed in the intervention enriched group compared with the control individual group. Compliance with the sessions was scarce. The satisfaction with the intervention and the acquisition of knowledge were adequate. Moreover, the benefits of both interventions were weak.