CaFI:Family Intervention for African Caribbeans with schizophrenia-V1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Culturally-adapted Family Intervention (CaFI) for African Caribbeans with schizophrenia and their families: A feasibility study of implementation and acceptability
IRAS ID
135146
Contact name
Dawn Edge
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
The University of Manchester
Research summary
Background
Research consistently reports that African Caribbeans in the UK are more likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia but have inferior access to specialist services and worse outcomes than any other ethnic group. They are also more likely to be brought into hospital by police under the Mental Health Act, receive higher doses of medication and are less likely to be offered psychological therapies, such as family intervention (FI). Such negative experiences create a ‘circle of fear’; hindering engagement with services and increasing families’ ‘burden of care’. Prolonged untreated illness is tremendously stressful, contributing to hostile home environments and family breakdown. This increases patients’ social isolation and associated risk of delayed discharge, relapse and readmission.
NICE highlight the urgent need to improve access to effective, evidence-based care; experiences of services; and outcomes for this ethnic group. FI is both clinically- and cost-effective but patients with schizophrenia are rarely offered it. African Caribbeans with schizophrenia are doubly-disadvantaged due to high levels of family disruption and coercive approaches outlined above.Proposed research
We therefore plan to test the feasibility of culturally-adapting, implementing and evaluating FI with African Caribbeans in acute and rehabilitation inpatient wards and with patients in Community Mental Health Teams (including those on Community Treatment Orders (CTOs)) in Manchester. We will ask patients to nominate ‘trusted individuals’ (such as support workers), who we will train to act as ‘proxy families’ where patients have no contact their own families.Study aims
Our study has 2 key aims:
1. To assess the feasibility of culturally-adapting, implementing and evaluating an innovative approach to FI among African Caribbean patients with schizophrenia and their families across a range of clinical settings.
2. To test the feasibility and acceptability of delivering culturally-adapted family intervention (CaFI) via ‘proxy families’ where biological families are unavailable.REC name
North West - Greater Manchester East Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
13/NW/0571
Date of REC Opinion
23 Sep 2013
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion