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.