Abstract
Introduction: In 1958, Jorge Garcia Badaracco initiated weekly meetings between psychotic patients and their parents in Buenos Aires. On the basis of these experiences, he founded a new psychotherapeutic method, with an open setting based on multi- family groups (MFG), for patients affected by severe psychiatric illness. In Italy, there are several public psychiatric services in which MFG is followed, but there are few studies testing its validity. Herein, we describe a design study addressing the validity of MFGs outcome in an Adult Care Psychiatric Department. Materials and Methods: We aim to compare patients who attended MFG with those who were not offered MFG sessions. Our hypothesis is that patients who attended the group showed a better improvement of level of symptoms, a higher level of coping styles and resilience, a decreased feeling of perceived stigma in comparison to the control group. Patients were assessed using the Positive, and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), the Brief COPE, Resilience Scale for Adults (RSA), and Recovery Style Questionnaire. Results: We here present preliminary analysis of socio demographic data showing a substantial homogeneity of the groups who differ only for sex distribution. Definitive data will be elaborated within 12 months after the end of the recruitment. Discussion: There is the need to objectively demonstrate the efficacy of MFG in order for it to become part of routine practice. In addition, assessment instruments need to be developed to validate these hypotheses. MFG may be helpful in patient management and used to evaluate progress and guide therapeutic decisions, while reinforcing the role of the patient, and should be of immediate clinical relevance.
Highlights
In 1958, Jorge Garcia Badaracco initiated weekly meetings between psychotic patients and their parents in Buenos Aires
multifamily groups (MFG) may be helpful in patient management and used to evaluate progress and guide therapeutic decisions, while reinforcing the role of the patient, and should be of immediate clinical relevance
Clinical characteristic of MFG participants and of the control group patients are illustrated in table 1
Summary
The origins of Multi-Family Groups (MFG) therapy can be traced to 1958 when Jorge Garcia Badaracco [1] started to convene male psychotic patients at the psychiatric hospital in Buenos Aires for weekly meetings. Since he was investigating the efficacy of the method, he invited the patients’ family members to participate in group sessions to discuss their improvement and possible discharge from the facility. The psychotherapeutic ‘revolution’ allowed the formation of an open group session that included both parents and family members; up to 50 individuals participated in each session; there were no particular rules except for the regularity of encounters This allowed more focus to be placed on factors that are often at the basis of mental pathologies. MFG does appear to favor improvement in some aspects of social functioning, such as greater involvement in family life and social relations, and is associated with a decrease in the number of hospitalizations during the period of observation [6]
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