Counselling the relatives of the long-term adult mentally ill. I. Evaluation of the impact on relatives and patients.

The efficacy of implementing a clinically feasible psychosocial intervention which addresses the needs of carers of the long-term mentally ill is reported. All the relatives of patients in continuous high contact with one clinical team in a local day-care facility were offered the intervention. An interactive education session at home was followed by a monthly relatives group which aimed to reduce components of expressed emotion and to alleviate burden. Patients and relatives were assessed. The controls were the patients in contact with the other teams in the day-care facility, and their relatives. The intervention was effective at reducing EE and improving family relationships. Offering this kind of support to people who are providing long-term care for the severely mentally ill can contribute significantly to the quality of life of both supporters and patients.