Using family consultation as psychiatric aftercare for schizophrenic patients

The families of 14 schizophrenic patients who were recently discharged from a Veterans Administration hospital received periodic consultation in their homes from members of a clinical team. The visiting clinicians educated the families and the patients about community resources, consulted with them about interpersonal problems, and were available for crisis intervention following the last scheduled visit. Three months and one year after their discharge, the patients were compared on various measures of outcome with a control group of 22 similar patients whose families did not receive periodic consultation. At the three-month follow-up, patients whose families received consultation had spent significantly fewer days in the hospital than had the control patients, but the difference was not significant at one-year follow-up. They also rated themselves significantly higher on the Vets Adjustment Scale at both the three-month and one-year follow-ups. The authors interpret the results in light of other studies of after-care interventions.