Supporting family members of people with severe mental illness

Abstract

Objective:

The present study focuses on the impact of integration of family support components to a community support program for people with severe mental illness.

Methods:

We believe that family members of people with mental illness need emotional and practical supports to lesson their burden and to achieve self-fulfillment. The more they live a fulfilling life, the more likely they will be able to keep a good relationship with a person with mental illness. Therefore, we utilize five specific interventions; 1) case management for family members, 2) direct support, 3) adjustment of relationship between family members and person with mental illness, 4) cooperation with housing program and respite care program, 5) family psychoeducation program. After interviewing family members regarding our services, process of changes in family members were analyzed by utilizing the stage of changes model (Prochaska & DiClemente, 1983). From this analysis, we identified the appropriate intervention for each stage and effectiveness of each intervention.

Results and Conclusion

Since many people with mental illness are living with their families in Japan, family support needs to be a major and fundamental component of community support programs. This present analysis shows the importance of family support suited to their stage of change, since family circumstance improves when family members have more mental elbowroom while being supporters. Even though our experience is from a specific cultural background, we believe that it would be adaptable enough for other programs with various cultural backgrounds.