Family Perceptions of Benefits and Barriers to First Episode Psychosis Carer Group Participation

Abstract

Families play an important role in relapse-prevention following a person's first psychotic episode. To evaluate an open-ended family group intervention within a public adult mental health service, semi-structured interviews were conducted with: (1) carers who continually attended; (2) carers who attended once only; (3) carers who never attended; (4) case managers and (5) early psychosis clinicians. Benefits to group participation included: reduced isolation, sense of collective experience, opportunity to feel heard, reduced stigma and shame, increased knowledge about mental illness, and enhanced skills in supporting the care recipient. Barriers included: competing family and work commitments, applicability to own experiences of caring, discomfort with social situations and revealing and hearing emotions, and a belief that experiences are private. While attending the group increased knowledge, the benefits most emphasized were in the social connection with other carers and sharing one's story in a safe and reassuring environment.

Keywords:

• first episode psychosis
• family carers
• family group
• mental health
• psychoeducation
• qualitative research
• social support

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank the participants: family carers of people challenged by first episode psychosis; social work student Damien Taylor for conducting the semi-structured interviews and collating the de-identified responses; David Castle for reviewing an earlier version of this article; the management and clinicians of Hawthorn and Clarendon Community Mental Health Centres for supporting the establishment and ongoing development of the group.