A Controlled Evaluation of Psychoeducation Workshops for Relatives of State Hospital Patients

Pre‐discharge psychoeducation workshops for relatives of psychiatric inpatients, conducted with and without the patient present, were compared to hospital‐tour and no‐contact control groups. Despite highly positive evaluations of the workshops, there were no group differences in patient relapse or family involvement in treatment after discharge; nor did the groups differ on questionnaire measures of relatives' illness attributions or criticism/rejection of the patient taken immediately after the workshops. Process analyses indicated that relatives made fewer personal and topic‐relevant comments over time in workshops with patients present, compared to those patients absent. Patients, however, maintained high (often disruptive) levels of participation.