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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

David Pollio, PhD¹, Carol North, MD, MPE², Melissa Hensley, MSW¹, Donna Reid, MSW³, Jennifer McClendon, MSW¹, and CLark Kopelman¹. (1) Washington University, Campus Box 1196, St Louis, MO 63130-4899, 3149357516, depollio@wustl.edu, (2) Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 6363 Forest Park Rd., Dallas, TX 75390-8828, (3) Independence Center, 4219 Laclede Ave, St Louis, MO 63108

Introduction. Multifamily psychoeducation is a well-established model for treating persons with mental illness. One successful adaptation has been “PsychoEducation Responsive to Families” (PERF) which uses a standardized, yet flexible approach to tailoring interventions uniquely for each group. PERF presupposes that “tailoring” programs to consumer preference facilitates translation while maintaining educational effectiveness. This paper explored this presupposition through analyzing variation in topics selected by participants in a clinical trial of “family responsive” groups.

Methods. PERF groups meet biweekly for one year. Each group (n=12) developed their own curriculum during the first meeting. Topics were identified (mean=14/group), than members prioritized these topics through a Q-sort procedure. The current study examined the frequency of inclusion and rank order of resulting topics (n=58).

Results: Topics tended to recur across multiple groups. Twenty percent of the topics recurred in at least six of the twelve PERF groups (comprising half of the total sessions); while almost half recurred more than four times (comprising an additional quarter). Most frequent topics included symptoms, dual diagnosis, medication, community resources. Topics recurring at least six times averaged relatively low ranks of importance (range 5-10).

Discussion: The findings suggest two levels of family concerns— high-priority ones, tending to be unique to a single group, and low-priority ones, tending to generalize. Low-priority topics appear similar to existing clinician-generated programs. It might therefore be argued that “family responsiveness” is able to meet family needs, while providing clinically essential information—affirming the potential for the consumer preference-based adaptations.

Learning Objectives: