[Assay of screening and prevention issues for high risk populations with prodromes of severe mental illness]

Before the appearance of specific psychotic symptoms, most individuals experience a period of prodromal symptoms associated with severe mental illness. Early intervention during this pre-psychotic phase may improve treatment outcomes, alter the natural course of disease, and prevent or delay mental disease onset. This paper aimed to synthesize four screening strategies (genetic high-risk populations selected by family history with mental illness, finding ultra-high-risk population, the close-in strategy, and the pre-psychotic phase by assessing basic symptoms); two intervention dimensions (psychosocial interventions and antipsychotic medicine); discussions of ethnic issues; and three Taiwanese nurses' roles (the role of assessment for screening, the role of development for screening tools, and the role of preventive intervention providers) to attain early diagnoses and prevention of mental illness. This article provides more information to advanced Taiwanese mental health nurses responsible to promote /s enhance the health of patients with prodromes of severe mental illness.