ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: In the 1980s, suicide rates in Denmark were among the highest in the world. In 1992, a Suicide Prevention Centre was opened in Copenhagen with a 2-week programme of social and psychological treatment. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of the Suicide Prevention Centre. METHODS: In a quasi-experimental study, 362 patients in the Suicide Prevention Centre and a parallel comparison group of 39 patients were interviewed with European Parasuicide Study Interviewer Schedule I (EPSIS I), which is a comprehensive interview including several validated scales. All patients were invited to follow-up interviews with EPSIS II and followed in the National Patients Register and the Cause of Death Register. RESULTS: At the 1-year follow-up, 59% of patients in the intervention group and 53% of patients in the comparison groups were interviewed with EPSIS II. The intervention group obtained a significantly greater improvement in Beck's Depression Inventory, Hopelessness Scale, Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale and CAGE-score and a significantly lower repetition rate. DISCUSSION: Although the design cannot exclude selection bias, it seems likely that the improvement in the intervention group was facilitated by the treatment.
Subject(s)
Suicide Prevention , Adolescent , Adult , Catchment Area, Health , Denmark/epidemiology , Female , Follow-Up Studies , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Registries , Self-Injurious Behavior/mortality , Suicide/statistics & numerical data , Suicide, Attempted/psychology , Survival RateABSTRACT
Forty relatives of young psychotic patients participated in psychoeducative groups for eight sessions and filled in questionnaires at the first and the last session. They were questioned about user satisfaction, degree of strain, knowledge, attitude and behaviour in relation to mental illness, and the emotional climate in the family. The emotional climate in the family was investigated by means of the Family Questionnaire and divided in subscales, measuring criticism and over-involvement. The relatives had experienced strain in relation to the patient's behaviour. Aggression, unpredictability, dependence/helplessness were factors which the relatives felt most straining. The relatives' burden of care had consequences in economy, private life and working life. The relatives complained of lack of continuity in the treatment of the patient. Information about the condition, diagnosis and prognosis of the patient was criticized for being unsatisfactory, too vague or too scarce. After the psychoeducative group sessions, both criticism and over-involvement tended to fall (non-significant). The relatives were very satisfied with the group sessions. It is concluded that psychoeducative group sessions with relatives of psychotic patients are effective in influencing the emotional climate in the families in a desirable way. Better cooperation between psychiatric department/community mental health care centre, patient and relative can increase compliance with medical treatment and increase the relatives' ability to handle problems related to the patient's disease.