Exploring the Experiences of Personal Recovery among Mental Health Consumers and Their Caregivers Receiving Strength- Based Family Interventions

Background:This study explored the personal recovery of consumers and their caregivers receiving the strength-based family intervention.Method:A three-year project was implemented with 43 dyads from 5 community psychiatric rehabilitation agencies in northern,central,and Southern Taiwan.This paper presents qualitative analysis with a focus on describing the experiences of personal recovery.To gain a deeper understanding of the participants’personal experiences and perspectives,semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted on three occasions(six months after the inception of the experiment,18 months after,and when the participants left the services of this study).Over the three occasions,a total of 27 consumers and 28 caregivers were interviewed.Data analysis was conducted based on grounded theory.Results:Consumers expressed positive experiences in the domain of the recovery process(positive sense of self,taking responsibility,and better coping)and on the objective indicators of recovery(functioning,interpersonal interaction,and family relationship).Caregivers experienced lessened psychological burdens.They also revealed improvements to their sense of self(recovery process)and subjective indicators of recovery outcomes,including feeling empowered and having a better quality of life.Moreover,they had better interaction with consumers(objective domain of recovery).Conclusion:These findings suggest that the strength-based perspective is an acceptable,culturally-compatible approach among Chinese mental health consumers and their caregivers.The investigators suggest that additional resources would be necessary to support a change in the service system in Taiwan so that family-based services can be provided to promote the recovery of mental health consumers and their family caregivers.

Effectiveness of family psychosocial intervention on mental health and family function of caregivers of children with cancer:a meta-analysis

Objective:To evaluate the effect of family psychosocial intervention on the mental health and family function of caregivers of children with cancer.Methods:A comprehensive literature search of CNKI,Wanfang,VIP,CMB,PubMed,Web of Science,MEDLINE,Embase,Cochrane Library,and PsycARTICLES was conducted to retrieve randomized controlled trials of family psychosocial intervention from database inception until 19 September 2021.RevMan(version 5.4.1)was used to analyze the data.Results:A total of 894 caregivers participated in 11 studies.The analysis showed that anxiety(standardized mean difference[SMD]=−0.22,95%confidence interval[CI]=−0.37 to−0.07,P=0.004)and depression(SMD=−0.33,95%CI=−0.57 to−0.08,P=0.01)were significantly reduced,while family function(SMD=−0.86,95%CI=−1.28 to−0.45,P<0.001)was significantly improved by the family psychosocial intervention compared with the controls.According to subgroup analysis,family psychosocial interventions were found to reduce posttraumatic stress disorder(PTSD)symptoms when the follow-up time was>1 month(SMD=−0.48,95%CI=0.68 to−0.27,P<0.00001).Conclusions:Current evidence supports the use of family psychological intervention to reduce depression and anxiety and improve family function.However,its effect on PTSD symptoms requires further study.Future studies should further identify the role of specific family psychosocial interventions on families and caregivers of children with cancer.