Psychoeducational Group Intervention for Adolescents With Psychosis and Their Families: A Two-Year Follow-Up

Abstract

To investigate whether the beneficial effects of a structured, psychoeducational, parallel-group program for adolescents with early-onset psychosis and their families observed immediately after the intervention were maintained 2 years later. The present study examines the longitudinal efficacy of a randomized controlled trial based on a psychoeducational, problem-solving, structured group intervention for adolescents with early-onset psychosis and their families (PE) and compares it with that of a nonstructured group intervention (NS) after a 2-year follow-up. We analyzed whether the differences between PE and NS found after the intervention persisted 2 years later. Intergroup differences in number and duration of hospitalizations, symptoms, and functioning were also assessed. After 2 years of follow-up, we were able to reassess 89% of patients. In the PE group, 13% of patients had visited the emergency department, compared with 50% in the NS group (p= .019). However, no statistically significant differences were found between the groups for negative symptoms or number and duration of hospitalizations. A significant improvement in Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) general symptoms was observed in the PE group. Our psychoeducational group intervention showed sustained effects by diminishing the number of visits to emergency departments 2 years after the intervention. Our findings indicate that this psychoeducational intervention could provide patients with long-lasting resources to manage crises more effectively. Clinical trial registration information-Intervention Module AGES (AGES-CM); http://clinicaltrials.gov/; NCT02101372.