Family intervention may reduce the number of relapse events and hospitalisations and would therefore be of interest to people with schizophrenia, clinicians and policy makers. However, the treatment effects of these trials may be overestimated due to the poor methodological quality. Further data from trials that describe the methods of randomisation, test the blindness of the study evaluators, and implement the CONSORT guidelines would enable greater confidence in these findings.
Educating relatives about schizophrenia.
An education program, which was part of a controlled trial of intervention with families of schizophrenic patients, is described and evaluated. The evidence suggests that this kind of education has a role to play in psychosocial intervention. Assessment of its impact should include not only changes in information acquired but also in attitudes.