Family Intervention for Mental Illness and Substance Abuse

Overview

This study will evaluate a family intervention program for individuals with bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or schizoaffective disorder and co-occurring substance use disorders.

Full Title of Study: “Family Intervention for SMI and Substance Use Disorder”

Study Type

  • Study Type: Interventional
  • Study Design
    • Allocation: Randomized
    • Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
    • Primary Purpose: Treatment
    • Masking: None (Open Label)
  • Study Primary Completion Date: December 2008

Detailed Description

Substance use disorder (SUD) in persons with severe mental illness may worsen the course of psychiatric illness. The loss of family support for individuals with mental illness is a major contributing factor to housing instability, homelessness, and other problems. Despite progress toward integrating mental health and substance abuse services, interventions that improve the course of mental illness while helping the families of the mentally ill are not currently available. Enhancing skills for coping with mental illness may be an effective strategy for treating SUD, decreasing caregiver burden, and improving the long-term outcomes for people with mental illness. Patients and their families are randomly assigned to either the Family Intervention for Dual Diagnosis (FIDD) program or family psychoeducation. The FIDD program lasts for up to 3 years and includes both single and multiple-family group formats. The family psychoeducation program consists of 6 weekly sessions. Routine assessments are conducted on all patients, and relatives are evaluated on a wide range of outcomes, including substance abuse, hospitalizations, psychiatric symptoms, legal problems, aggression, housing and homelessness, family burden, social support, and quality of life. To determine the effectiveness of the FIDD program, knowledge of mental illness and problem-solving skills are assessed in the families following treatment.

Interventions

  • Behavioral: Family Intervention for Dual Diagnosis
    • The family intervention for dual diagnosis program lasts for up to 3 years and includes both single and multiple-family group formats.
  • Behavioral: Family psychoeducation program
    • The family psychoeducation program consists of 6 weekly sessions.

Arms, Groups and Cohorts

  • Experimental: 1
    • Participants will undergo the Family Intervention for Dual Diagnosis (FIDD) program.
  • Active Comparator: 2
    • Participants will be placed in a family psychoeducation program.

Clinical Trial Outcome Measures

Primary Measures

  • Alcohol use scale-revised
    • Time Frame: Measured at baseline, during treatment, and post-treatment
  • Drug use scale-revised
    • Time Frame: Measured at baseline, during treatment, and post-treatment
  • Substance abuse treatment scale
    • Time Frame: Measured at baseline, during treatment, and post-treatment
  • Timeline followback calandar
    • Time Frame: Measured at baseline, during treatment, and post-treatment

Participating in This Clinical Trial

Inclusion Criteria

  • Have schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, or bipolar disorder – Have a current substance use disorder (within the past 6 months) – Are willing to have at least 4 hours of contact per week with family members or significant others – Plan to remain in the community – Have family members or significant others who consent to participate in the study and plan to remain in the community

Gender Eligibility: All

Minimum Age: 18 Years

Maximum Age: 65 Years

Are Healthy Volunteers Accepted: No

Investigator Details

  • Lead Sponsor
    • Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center
  • Collaborator
    • National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
  • Provider of Information About this Clinical Study
    • Sponsor
  • Overall Official(s)
    • Kim T. Mueser, PhD, Principal Investigator, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center
    • Shirley Glynn, PhD, Principal Investigator, University of California, Los Angeles

References

Mueser KT, Fox L. A family intervention program for dual disorders. Community Ment Health J. 2002 Jun;38(3):253-70. doi: 10.1023/a:1015271908765.

Clinical trials entries are delivered from the US National Institutes of Health and are not reviewed separately by this site. Please see the identifier information above for retrieving further details from the government database.

At TrialBulletin.com, we keep tabs on over 200,000 clinical trials in the US and abroad, using medical data supplied directly by the US National Institutes of Health. Please see the About and Contact page for details.