In our own voice-family companion: reducing self-stigma of family members of persons with serious mental illness.
Source
Departmentof Psychiatry, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, NewYork, NY 10029, USA.
deborah.perlick@mssm.edu
Abstract
OBJECTIVE:
This article
reports preliminary findings from a novel, family peer-based
intervention designed to reduce self-stigma among family members of
people with serious mental illness.
METHODS:
A total of
158 primary caregivers of patients with schizophrenia were recruited
from a large urban mental health facility (93 caregivers) or from a
family and consumer advocacy organization (65 caregivers). Caregivers
(N=122) who reported they perceived at least a moderate level of mental
illness-related stigma were evaluated on measures of self-stigma,
withdrawal, secrecy, anxiety, and social comparison and randomly
assigned to receive one of two, one-session group interventions: a
peer-led intervention (In Our Own Voice-Family Companion [IOOV-FC])
designed to stimulate group discussion or a clinician-led family
education session, which delivered information about mental illness in a
structured, didactic format. IOOV-FC consisted of playing a videotape
of family members who describe their experiences coping with stigma,
which was followed by a discussion led by two family peers who modeled
sharing their own experiences and facilitated group sharing.
RESULTS:
Of
24 family members and ten consumers, 96% rated the videotape above a
predetermined acceptability threshold on a 19-item scale assessing
cultural sensitivity, respect for different stakeholders, relevance of
content, and technical quality (α=.92). Caregivers receiving IOOV-FC
with low to moderate pretreatment anxiety reported a substantial
reduction in self-stigma (effect size=.50) relative to those receiving
clinician-led family education (p=.017) as well as significant
reductions in secrecy (p=.031).
CONCLUSIONS:
Peer-led
group interventions may be more effective in reducing family self-stigma
than clinician-led education, at least for persons reporting
experiencing low to moderate anxiety levels on a standard questionnaire
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