The Effectiveness of a Knowledge Translation Cognitive-Educational Intervention for Family Members of Persons Coping with Severe Mental Illness

When Distance Becomes Closeness: Distance Learning as a Meaningful Learning Opportunity During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The National School for Mental Health Rehabilitation, Integration, and Recovery in Israel developed responses to academic, pedagogical, and emotional needs that arose during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite reduced activity during the outbreak, the school continued all regular courses remotely and created new online workshops. In this article, we review the school's adjustment from being change agents on the frontal level to change agents on the virtual level, through descriptive and qualitative findings. We use the learning from success approach to examine development and implementation processes. The large number of participants who suddenly had access to distance learning and their highly positive responses indicated the creation of opportunities alongside the challenges we faced. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first description and analysis of the challenges, opportunities, and outcomes of a recovery-oriented online academic facility during a pandemic.

What Benefits Might a Family Expect From Using Spiritual Coping Mechanisms When Providing Care for People With Schizophrenia? Literature Review

Introduction

Caring for people with schizophrenia has consequences, one of which is stressors during care. Families as caregivers often using coping strategies that involve relationships with self, others, or the transcendent/God or nature and also may include religious/spiritual practices.

Objectives

This literature review aims to identify the benefit of using spiritual coping as used by a family schizophrenia caregiver. The variable is spiritual coping.

Methods

This literature review method used PRISMA methodology for systematic reviews. Search was conducted in March 2017, updated in August 2022 and submitted in April 2023 for the publication process, limited to English by using electronic databases: Scopus, ScienceDirect, Sage, ProQuest, and PubMed.

Results

Fifteen studies were included in this review. Two synthesized findings emerged: spiritual coping strategies used by family caregivers give positive effects for family.

Conclusion

When the stress or crisis phase is experienced while caring for people with schizophrenia, the family who acts as a caregiver reveals the meaning of life they have and that they feel hopelessness and helplessness. In an effort to overcome the family's burden as caregivers, they often use spiritual coping, which is important to increase the caregiver's wellbeing.

Aspects of Shared Decision Making in a Cognitive-Educational Intervention for Family Members of Persons Coping With Severe Mental Illness

Background: Partnerships and family inclusion are embedded in mental health policies. Shared Decision Making (SDM) is as an effective health communication model designed to facilitate service users and providers engagement in reaching jointly decisions concerning interventions. Keshet is a 15 bi-weekly academic course for family members of people with mental illnesses that enhances positive family cognitive communication skills. Purpose: To exhibit how SDM is inherently expressed in Keshet. Method: We conducted a secondary analysis of previous Keshet evaluation studies and course protocols that focused on revealing SDM use. Results: SDM was found to be a prominent feature in Keshet interventions in both the structure of the course as well as the process and procedures. Following participation in the program, making decisions jointly was found to be a prominent feature. Conclusions: Interventions such as Keshet that include an SDM approach can contribute to the integration of academic, professional and "lived experience" within a shared perspective, thus promoting an enhanced equality- based SDM model that benefits individuals as well as mental health systems.

Challenges and barriers in mental healthcare systems and their impact on the family: A systematic integrative review

The aim of this systematic integrative review is to analyse the challenges and barriers found in mental healthcare systems and the impact they have on the family. Searches were made of the Web of Science, Scopus, Medline and Cochrane databases using terms relating to mental health, family care and healthcare systems. We included and critically evaluated studies published in English between 2015 and 2019 that directly or indirectly analysed public mental health policies and the consequences they have for the family. We analysed our findings following the inductive content analysis approach. A total of 32 articles that met quality indicators were identified. Very closely related structural, cultural, economic and healthcare barriers were found that contribute to the treatment gap in mental health. The family covers the care systems' deficiencies and weaknesses, and this leads to overload and a diminishing quality of life for caregivers. It is acknowledged that people with mental illness and their families should be able to participate in the development of policies and thus contribute to strengthening mental healthcare systems worldwide.