Empowering families to care for people with schizophrenia.

This article examines how community psychiatric nurses (CPNs) can assist the relatives and carers of patients with schizophrenia to increase their knowledge of the condition as well as widening their coping abilities. The practicalities of how CPNs can help families to gain the necessary knowledge and skills are considered, as well as factors that contribute to deterioration in the health of the family and how CPNs can help to prevent this.