La psicoeducazione nella schizofrenia: evidenze di efficacia e peculiarità di intervento su pazienti e familiari

Abstract

Introduction

Psychoeducation, a non-pharmacological strategy recommended by current guidelines for the treatment of schizophrenia, integrates elements from different psychotherapeutic approaches and promotes improvement of knowledge regarding the disease and coping skills. The aim of this review is to describe the main evidence of efficacy on psychoeducation in schizophrenia on the basis of recent reviews and meta-analyses, and recently published studies on new approaches in the field.

Discussion and conclusions

Psychoeducation can reduce rates of relapse and rehospitalization, improve adherence to treatment and have other positive effects on patients and their families, such as reduction of burden. Single studies have considered culturally sensitive and other new psychoeducational approaches that would be important for therapeutic interventions especially in multiethnic contexts. Future research should therefore focus patients and their families participate in psychoeducational interventions, but also on the minimum effective psychoeducation dose, on those patients with schizophrenia who do not have supporting families willing to partecipate in family psychoeducation, on standardized outcomes and follow-up periods.