This study explored the effectiveness of a psychoeducational family intervention for schizophrenia on patients' personal and social functioning as well as on relatives' burden and perceived support.
...Thirty-four mental health professionals from 17 public mental health centers in Italy selected 71 families of consumers with schizophrenia. Forty-two families were randomly assigned to a group that received the intervention for six months, and 29 families were assigned to a waiting list for six months. At baseline and six months later, validated tools were used to assess patients' clinical status, personal and social functioning, and social network as well as relatives' burden, social resources, and perception of professional support.
In the intervention group the number of patients with poor or very poor global personal and social functioning decreased significantly, from 17 (47 percent) at baseline to nine (25 percent) at follow-up. A significant improvement was found for the intervention group in patients' social relationships, interests in obtaining a job, maintenance of social interests, and management of social conflicts. Twenty-seven patients (74 percent) reported that their social relationships had improved during the six-month period. For both the intervention and control groups, family burden significantly improved. Relatives' social contacts and perception of professional support significantly increased only in the intervention group.
The results suggest that a psychoeducational family intervention may have a significant impact on functional outcomes of schizophrenia when provided to patients and caregivers in real-world settings.
Aims – This study aims to explore: a) the feasibility of psycho-educational interventions for families of users with schizophrenia in clinical practice by trained staff; b) the benefits and problems ...encountered by professionals in the use of these interventions. Methods – 46 professionals from 23 Italian Mental Health Sen'ices (MHS) attended at a three-module training course in psycho-educational interventions and four supervisions in the subsequent year. Following the course, participants provided the intervention to families of users with schizophrenia. The difficulties and benefits encountered by trainees to use the intervention were registered on the Family Intervention Schedule.Results – 83% of the participants completed the training course. Following the course, the intervention started in 71 families from 17 MHS. 76% of trainees provided the intervention to 2-5 families, while 13% of them only held informative sessions on schizophrenia. During the supervision period, the organisational difficulties experienced by the professionals were stable, while the benefits increased. Differences in benefits and difficulties were detected in relation to the trainees’ experience and professional roles. Conclusions – It is possible to introduce psycho-educational interventions in MHS after a relatively brief period of training and supervision of the staff. Organisational difficulties need to be addressed to increase the dissemination of these interventions on a large scale. Declaration of Interest: None of the authors has had any interest or he/she has received any form of support, including that from drug companies and honoraria for lectures and consultancies, potentially in conflict with this scientific work. None of the authors has received any form of fee for his/her participation in this study. This study was supported by grants received from the “M. Lugli” Foundation (grant n. 2/18/8) and from the National Institute of Health, Italy (grant no. 1AL/F3).
it Viene Qui proposto un nuovo inquadramento tassonomico di Polygonum romanum Jacq., con il riconoscimento di tre taxa sottospecifici: Polygonum romanum Jacq. subsp. romanum dell' Italia ...centro-meridionale, P. romanum Jacq. subsp. gallicum (Raffaelli) Raffaelli & Villar, comb. & stat. nov., della Francia meridionale (Linguadoca) e P. romanum Jacq. subsp. balearicum Raffaelli & Villar, subsp. nov., dell' isola di Maiorca (Baleari, Spagna).
it Viene Qui proposto un nuovo inquadramento tassonomico di Polygonum romanum Jacq., con il riconoscimento di tre taxa sottospecifici: Polygonum romanum Jacq. subsp. romanum dell' Italia ...centro-meridionale, P. romanum Jacq. subsp. gallicum (Raffaelli) Raffaelli & Villar, comb. & stat. nov., della Francia meridionale (Linguadoca) e P. romanum Jacq. subsp. balearicum Raffaelli & Villar, subsp. nov., dell' isola di Maiorca (Baleari, Spagna).
This study explored the effectiveness of a psychoeducational family intervention for schizophrenia on patients' clinical status and disability and relatives' burden and perceived support.
The study ...has been carried out in 17 mental health centres. In each of them, 2 professionals were trained in a psychoeducational intervention and applied it for six months with families of users with schizophrenia. At baseline and six months later, patients' clinical status and disability, and relatives' burden, social network and professional support were assessed by validated tools.
Of the seventy-one recruited families, 48 (68%) completed the intervention. At six months, a significant improvement was found in patients' clinical status and social functioning, as well as in relatives' burden and social and professional support. In particular, the percentage of patients with poor or very poor global social functioning dropped from 50% to 27% at six months. Forty percent of patients and 45% of relatives reported a significant improvement in their social contacts over the intervention period.
The results of this study confirm the hypothesis that psychoeducational family interventions may have a significant effect on social outcome and family burden in schizophrenia when provided in routine conditions.
Sustainability and cost optimization are actually the main drivers of product and system design in modern companies. However, cost assessments are usually carried out at the end of the design process ...to check the validity of the decisions already taken. Therefore, when targets are not achieved, numerous time-consuming iteration loops are necessary to optimize the initial solution. The paper situates in a research aimed at merging functional-based and design-to-cost approaches to propose a CAD-based platform able to assess new product variants from the earliest stages by configuring and assessing feasible design solutions. In particular, an approach is proposed for dealing with dependencies among design parameters in order to support the designer in a rapid definition of valid solutions and optimise them. The approach is described and then applied on an industrial test case, a bridge-crane design process.
Influenza A (H1N1) virus infection is a global health burden, leading to significant pediatric morbidity and mortality. Prematurity, young age and comorbidities are important risk factors for ...unfavorable outcomes. Preventive strategies, such as healthcare workers and household contacts vaccination as well as the implementation of infection control practices during the epidemic season, are crucial to protect the most vulnerable populations. Early diagnosis, timely administration of antiviral drugs and supportive therapy are crucial to lead to a complete recovery. When conventional treatment fails, extracorporeal life support (ECLS) may be employed. In neonates and young infants, this high-tech support is burdened by specific technical complexity. Despite the potential risks related to this aggressive approach, ECLS is a life-saving procedure in 65% of pediatric viral pneumonia and in 73% of sepsis cases. Here, we report the successful outcome of a 51-day formerly preterm infant, suffering from a surgical necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), complicated with hospital-acquired pneumonia due to influenza A (H1N1) virus. She developed a severe respiratory failure, unresponsive to conventional therapy, and successfully treated with ECLS. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the use of ECLS in a formerly preterm infant, suffering from NEC complicated by influenza A (H1N1) virus infection.
Preziosa testimonianza di quanto il lavoro poetico e l’impegno intellettuale di Vittorio Sereni abbiano segnato profondamente il percorso letterario del nostro Novecento, e di quanto siano tuttora ...capaci di promuovere adesioni non effimere e riflessioni non scontate, i saggi che costituiscono questo volume ne approfondiscono la conoscenza e ne rinnovano, nel centenario della nascita, la memoria.
Influenza A (H1N1) virus infection is a global health burden, leading to significant pediatric morbidity and mortality. Prematurity, young age and comorbidities are important risk factors for ...unfavorable outcomes. Preventive strategies, such as healthcare workers and household contacts vaccination as well as the implementation of infection control practices during the epidemic season, are crucial to protect the most vulnerable populations. Early diagnosis, timely administration of antiviral drugs and supportive therapy are crucial to lead to a complete recovery. When conventional treatment fails, extracorporeal life support (ECLS) may be employed. In neonates and young infants, this high-tech support is burdened by specific technical complexity. Despite the potential risks related to this aggressive approach, ECLS is a life-saving procedure in 65% of pediatric viral pneumonia and in 73% of sepsis cases. Here, we report the successful outcome of a 51-day formerly preterm infant, suffering from a surgical necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), complicated with hospital-acquired pneumonia due to influenza A (H1N1) virus. She developed a severe respiratory failure, unresponsive to conventional therapy, and successfully treated with ECLS. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the use of ECLS in a formerly preterm infant, suffering from NEC complicated by influenza A (H1N1) virus infection.
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