Attitudes of mental health private practitioners dealing with patients with schizophrenia: a qualitative study from...

Attitudes of patients, their relatives and caregivers toward psychosocial interventions have been identified through different studies. However, the attitudes of psychiatrists have not been documented in Greece.

(i) To document the attitudes of psychiatrists toward psychosocial interventions for patients with schizophrenia. (ii) To identify their knowledge regarding ongoing programs, as well as their opinion on the availability of organized support structures.

A two-phase qualitative study was carried-out in representative regions of Greece. A questionnaire was administered to 26 randomly-selected psychiatrists in private practice in the context of an online survey about schizophrenia (PONTE).

All respondents considered the role of the family as being critical and the majority (80%) highlighted the efficacy of family counseling among the psychosocial therapeutic strategies. Half of the psychiatrists reported an ineffective information network on support programs, and most of the respondents (73%) considered the available psychosocial support programs to be insufficient.

An insufficient network of organized support structures for patients with schizophrenia is reported by Greek psychiatrists. There is consensus for the need to involve family members during psychosocial treatment.