Purpose: Psychoeducation groups have been empirically validated in highly controlled clinical settings, but not in communities where dissemination is based. This presentation describes 12- and 24-month outcomes for family members with illness (FMI) from participation in “PsychoEducation Responsive to Families” (PERF), a year-long multi-family group model, conducted at the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill of St. Louis. Each PERF group determined its own unique curriculum, drawing resources from a standardized manual. Families were eligible regardless of the psychiatric or substance-related diagnosis of their FMI.

Methods: Families were recruited from community workshops and randomly assigned to PERF or a comparison condition consisting of a scripted family education program of similar intensity. FMIs were assessed at intake, 12- and 24-months for quality-of-life, social support, medication compliance, days hospitalized. The study enrolled 183 families, 117 to PERF and 66 to comparison condition. This presentation reports t-tests and regression analyses (a) for PERF participants, comparing intake versus 12- and 24-months and 12- versus 24-months, (b) between PERF and comparison condition comparing intake versus 24-months, and (c) examining outcomes for PERF participants based on FMI diagnosis and relationship of group participant to FMI.

Results: PERF FMI demonstrated significant increase in social support and quality of life at 12-month follow-up and increased medication compliance at 12- and 24-months. Having bipolar disorder or schizophrenia and having insurance was associated with increased med compliance. No differences were found between study conditions.

Discussion: Results indicated that the PERF intervention was successful in improving long-term outcomes for families and their FMI. Similar to the analysis of family-level outcomes, the findings continue to demonstrate the potential for PERF in “real world” settings. Practitioners implementing PERF may wish to focus recruitment efforts on families whose FMI's primary diagnosis was bipolar disorder or schizophrenia.