The impact of familial involvement on dropout in a culturally informed group therapy for people diagnosed with ‘schizophrenia’

ABSTRACT

Background

Individuals with schizophrenia diagnoses are high-risk for dropout from mental health treatments, yet few studies have examined whether familial involvement in therapy impacts dropout.

Methods

We examined whether familial involvement and other demographic variables predicted dropout among 101 patients enrolled in culturally informed group therapy for people diagnosed with ‘schizophrenia’ (CIGT-S), which incorporates collectivistic principles and spiritual coping into treatment. We reviewed records and conducted follow-up calls to identify reasons for dropout, and performed survival analyses to identify when dropout was likely.

Results

Familial involvement was linked to greater engagement with treatment and lower dropout, signifying a mechanism for improving treatment attendance in this group. Ethnic minorities and patients with higher symptom severity demonstrated higher rates of dropout. Most patients dropped out of CIGT-S before treatment began. However, significantly lower levels of dropout were observed among those who made it to session 9 (end of the spirituality module). An inability to maintain contact with participants was the most cited reason for dropout within records, and structural reasons (e.g. moving away) were commonly cited among participants who were successfully followed-up with.

Discussion

Future work may identify whether family functioning or the quality of familial relationships may predict familial involvement and, consequently, treatment attendance.

KEYWORDS:

• Culture
• family
• schizoaffective disorder

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health under grant [R34MH071250], and the University of Miami Psychology department’s Fred C. and Helen Donn Flipse Research Support Fund.