Clinical trial NCT00043693: Family Intervention for Mental Illness and Substance Abuse
Official title: Family Intervention for SMI and Substance Use Disorder
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Schizophrenia
Bipolar Disorder
Substance-related Disorders
Keywords: Psychotic Disorders
Schizoaffective Disorder
Substance Abuse
Lead sponsor: Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
First posted: 2002-08-15
Enrollment: 108
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Maximum age (years): 65
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

Brief summary: This study will evaluate a family intervention program for individuals with bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or schizoaffective disorder and co-occurring substance use disorders.

Detailed description: Substance use disorder (SUD) in persons with severe mental illness may worsen the course of psychiatric illness. The loss of family support for individuals with mental illness is a major contributing factor to housing instability, homelessness, and other problems. Despite progress toward integrating mental health and substance abuse services, interventions that improve the course of mental illness while helping the families of the mentally ill are not currently available. Enhancing skills for coping with mental illness may be an effective strategy for treating SUD, decreasing caregiver burden, and improving the long-term outcomes for people with mental illness.

Patients and their families are randomly assigned to either the Family Intervention for Dual Diagnosis (FIDD) program or family psychoeducation. The FIDD program lasts for up to 3 years and includes both single and multiple-family group formats. The family psychoeducation program consists of 6 weekly sessions. Routine assessments are conducted on all patients, and relatives are evaluated on a wide range of outcomes, including substance abuse, hospitalizations, psychiatric symptoms, legal problems, aggression, housing and homelessness, family burden, social support, and quality of life. To determine the effectiveness of the FIDD program, knowledge of mental illness and problem-solving skills are assessed in the families following treatment.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Have schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, or bipolar disorder
* Have a current substance use disorder (within the past 6 months)
* Are willing to have at least 4 hours of contact per week with family members or significant others
* Plan to remain in the community
* Have family members or significant others who consent to participate in the study and plan to remain in the community

Primary outcomes:
measure: Alcohol use scale-revised
timeFrame: Measured at baseline, during treatment, and post-treatment
measure: Drug use scale-revised
timeFrame: Measured at baseline, during treatment, and post-treatment
measure: Substance abuse treatment scale
timeFrame: Measured at baseline, during treatment, and post-treatment
measure: Timeline followback calandar
timeFrame: Measured at baseline, during treatment, and post-treatment
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Santa Fe Springs
country: United States
facility: Pacific Clinics El Camino
state: California
city: Chelsea
country: United States
facility: North Suffolk Mental Health Association
state: Massachusetts
Study officials:
affiliation: Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center
name: Kim T. Mueser, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
affiliation: University of California, Los Angeles
name: Shirley Glynn, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Mueser KT, Fox L. A family intervention program for dual disorders. Community Ment Health J. 2002 Jun;38(3):253-70. doi: 10.1023/a:1015271908765.