ABSTRACT
Support groups often help families cope more effectively with relatives' mental illnesses. This study examines the differences between support groups led by professionals and those led by family members, focusing specifically on group participation benefits and group content. Results indicate that participants of both professional and family-led groups reported that the groups provided them with needed information about mental illness and its treatment and that the groups improved their relationships with their ill relatives. Professional-led groups placed a greater emphasis on the relatives' problems and coping with emotions, and family-led groups placed a greater emphasis on advocacy. Suggestions are provided regarding increased collaboration between professional and family-led support groups.
Subject(s)
Adaptation, Psychological , Family Health , Mental Disorders/psychology , Self-Help Groups , Adult , Chi-Square Distribution , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care , Professional-Family Relations , Self-Help Groups/organization & administrationABSTRACT
Predictors of benefits derived from participating in support groups for families of persons with mental illness were examined. A survey of 131 families indicated that social support resources outside the group, as well as support received from and provided by the group, were associated with information acquired by the participant. Improved relationships with family and the ill relative were predicted by the participant's health and provision of support in the group.
Subject(s)
Caregivers/psychology , Cost of Illness , Family/psychology , Psychotic Disorders/psychology , Self-Help Groups , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Bipolar Disorder/psychology , Bipolar Disorder/rehabilitation , Female , Home Nursing/psychology , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Psychotic Disorders/rehabilitation , Schizophrenia/rehabilitation , Schizophrenic Psychology , Social SupportABSTRACT
Comparison of 222 parents of an adult child who had a psychiatric disability and 434 parents with a nondisabled adult child revealed that parents' positive appraisals of their relationship with the target child was significantly predicted by their perceived caregiving burden, but not by their child's psychiatric status. Implications for interventions that enhance parent/adult child relationships are discussed.
Subject(s)
Caregivers/psychology , Cost of Illness , Parent-Child Relations , Psychotic Disorders/psychology , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Female , Humans , Internal-External Control , Male , Middle Aged , Personality Assessment , Psychotic Disorders/rehabilitation , Self-Help Groups , Social SupportSubject(s)
Father-Child Relations , Men , Child , Delivery, Obstetric , Female , Humans , Labor, Obstetric , Male , Pregnancy , Social PerceptionABSTRACT
Patients' satisfaction with a managed mental health care program was examined using a mail survey that included questions about patients' perceptions of various elements of service delivery and of their functioning after treatment. Completed surveys were returned by 292 patients who received outpatient psychotherapy, a 30 percent return rate. Patients who reported better psychological functioning and who rated the managed care staff as helpful and their therapist as skillful and conveniently located were more likely to be satisfied with the services they received.
Subject(s)
Managed Care Programs/standards , Mental Disorders/therapy , Patient Care Team , Patient Satisfaction/statistics & numerical data , Psychotherapy , Adult , Ambulatory Care , Female , Follow-Up Studies , Humans , Male , Mental Disorders/psychology , Midwestern United States , Quality Assurance, Health Care , Treatment OutcomeABSTRACT
Family burden reported by parents of offspring with severe mental illness was examined to determine whether burden increases with age. Older parents were troubled by cognitive dimensions of burden, while younger parents were distressed by their offspring's behavior, suggesting that interventions should vary according to parents' age as well as developmental stage of their child's illness.
