Family psychoeducation and therapeutic alliance focused interventions for parents of a daughter or son with a severe mental illness

This study compared the effectiveness of a family psychoeducational intervention (FPEI) and a therapeutic alliance focused intervention (TAFI) for parents of daughters and sons with severe mental illness (SMI). A process-outcome model was used to compare the effectiveness of the two interventions and to evaluate how they achieved their outcomes. Extent of effectiveness was assessed in terms of the family burden (FB) of the parents and the quality of life (QoL) and psychiatric symptoms of the daughters and sons. This study did not uncover a difference in effectiveness between the two interventions. However, at post-treatment, the participants in both interventions reported statistically significant less FB and attributed more QoL and less psychiatric symptoms to their daughters and sons than at pre-treatment. In addition, these pre- and post-treatment differences were mediated by specific mediating variables. These results are discussed in terms of the great psychotherapy debate (Wampold, 2001) as to the relative effectiveness of technique oriented interventions as compared to context oriented interventions.