Impact of Family Psychoeducation on Psychosis

The Role of Psychoeducation on Perceived Social Support of Postpartum Others With a Psychotic Illness

There is currently no clear involvement of families/caregivers in the care for postpartum mothers that develop postpartum psychosis. The lack of knowledge on causes of postpartum psychosis may influence the nature of perceived social support that mothers receive from caregivers. It is hoped that the provision of a culturally adapted version of family psychoeducation will bridge the knowledge gap and provide the much needed information. We therefore hypothesized that the involvement of a family member of a postpartum mother with a psychotic illness in a weekly session of family psychoeducation.

Study Overview

• Status: Unknown
• Conditions: Postpartum Psychosis
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: drug compliance; Behavioral: Encouragement of drug compliance; Behavioral: Family psychoeducation

Detailed Description

Postpartum psychosis causes distress to the mother, baby, spouse and other primary caregivers. This is especially true for Uganda where cultural beliefs for the causation of the illness place blame on supposedly the postpartum mother's promiscuity during pregnancy (COX, 1979). Cultural perceptions on the causes of postpartum psychosis may affect the nature of social support the mothers perceive from their families when they develop the illness. Other perceptions regarding postpartum psychosis in Uganda lay blame on supernatural causes like witchcraft.

Family psychoeducation which sets out to inform families of the nature of the illness is called for so as to demystify the illness.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Anticipated): 200
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Uganda
  • Kampala, Uganda, 7072
    • Recruiting
    • Makerere University College of Health Sciences
    • Contact: Janet Nakigudde; Phone Number: +256-772-407-885; Email: jnakigudde@hotmail.com
    • Contact: Eija Airaksinen; Phone Number: +468737840; Email: eija.airaksinen@ki.se
    • Principal Investigator: Janet Nakigudde
  • Kampala, Uganda, P.O.Box 7072
    • Recruiting
    • Makerere University College of Health Sciences
    • Contact: Janet Nakigudde; Phone Number: +256-772-407-885; Email: jnakigudde@hotmail.com
    • Principal Investigator: Janet Nakigudde
    • Contact: Eija Airksinen; Phone Number: +46-87373857; Email: eija.airaksinen@ki.se

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 13 years to 50 years (Child, Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: Female

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Postpartum mothers with a psychiatric illness in the current postpartum period.
• Must have been admitted to the mental health facility for the current episode.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Mothers residing out of a radius of 50 km away from the health facility.
• Mothers that do not have caregivers.
• Mothers who are not fluent in the language in which the study will be conducted.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Placebo Comparator: Encouragement on drug compliance; The intervention for the placebo comparator will be encouragement on drug compliance	Behavioral: drug compliance; Mothers and their caregivers will be encouraged to comply with the given medication; Other Names: Psychosocial intervention; Behavioral: Encouragement of drug compliance; Mothers and their caregivers in the placebo comparator will receive an intervention of drug compliance encouragement; Other Names: Psychosocial intervention
Experimental: Family psychoeducation; The experimental group will receive weekly sessions of psychoeducation for 12 weeks in addition to receiving drug compliance encouragement	Behavioral: Family psychoeducation; The experimental group will receive family psychoeducation for 12 sessions; Other Names: Psychosocial intervention

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
perceived social support of mothers	12 weekly sessions of family psychoeducation for a period of 3 months will improve perceived social support of mothers in the intervention arm.	3 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Improvement of psychological distress of the caregivers	12 weekly sessions of family psychoeducation with caregivers for a period of 3 months will improve psychological distress in caregivers of mothers that will have received family psychoeducation	3 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Makerere University
• Collaborators: Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA)
• Investigators: Study Director: Eija Airaksinen, Karolinska Institutet

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: August 1, 2008
• Primary Completion (Anticipated): September 1, 2010
• Study Completion (Anticipated): October 1, 2010

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 28, 2010
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 28, 2010
• First Posted (Estimate): July 29, 2010

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimate): July 29, 2010
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 28, 2010
• Last Verified: July 1, 2010

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Family psychoeducation; Postpartum psychosis; Perceived social support
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorders; Psychotic Disorders; Mental Disorders
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2006/HD11/4572U