Chan Sherry K W, Tse Samson, Sit Harrison Long Tin, Hui Christy L M, Lee Edwin H M, Chang Wing C, Chen Eric Y H
Department of Psychiatry, The University of Hong KongHong Kong, China; State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, The University of Hong KongHong Kong, China.
Department of Social Work and Social Administration, Faculty of Social Sciences, The University of Hong Kong Hong Kong, China.
Front Psychol. 2016 Dec 26;7:2006. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.02006. eCollection 2016.
Caregivers of patients with first-episode psychosis are often with little knowledge about the illness and experience more burden of care. Psychoeducation to caregivers has shown to be effective in improving outcomes of patients and possibly reduce stress of the caregivers. This has been recommended as one of the key psychosocial interventions for specific early intervention for psychosis service. However, the accessibility of the service, high case load of the health care professionals and self-stigma of caregivers are often the barriers of implementation of these programs in the real world. Incorporating the convenience of information access via internet and the concept of self-management approach, an interactive internet-based self-help psychoeducation program (iPEP) (www.ipep.hk) for the caregivers of patients with psychosis was established targeting the caregivers of patients with psychosis at early stage in Hong Kong. It provides a comprehensive online resource center in both written and video format on knowledge about psychosis, skills of care, and information of local resources. It also has a forum facilitate information exchange between healthcare professionals and the caregivers, allowing for self-management. Over 800 caregivers have joined the program as members. The evaluation of the subset of the members/users of the iPEP suggested that the iPEP program has been well received and appreciated by the caregivers of patients with first episode psychosis locally. It can potentially serve as a platform for future development of specific manual-based psychoeducation program for caregivers targeting at the needs of different groups.
首发精神病患者的照顾者通常对该疾病了解甚少，且承受着更多的照顾负担。对照顾者进行心理教育已被证明在改善患者预后以及可能减轻照顾者压力方面是有效的。这已被推荐为针对精神病服务的特定早期干预的关键心理社会干预措施之一。然而，服务的可及性、医护人员的高工作量以及照顾者的自我污名化往往是这些项目在现实世界中实施的障碍。结合通过互联网获取信息的便利性和自我管理方法的理念，针对香港早期精神病患者的照顾者建立了一个基于互联网的交互式自助心理教育项目（iPEP）（www.ipep.hk）。它以书面和视频形式提供了一个关于精神病知识、护理技能和当地资源信息的综合在线资源中心。它还有一个论坛，促进医护人员和照顾者之间的信息交流，实现自我管理。已有800多名照顾者加入该项目成为会员。对iPEP项目部分会员/用户的评估表明，iPEP项目在当地受到了首发精神病患者照顾者的广泛欢迎和认可。它有可能成为未来针对不同群体需求为照顾者开发特定手册式心理教育项目的平台。
