Authors: Åse Sviland and Anvor Lothe
Background: At the Stavanger University hospital in Norway, we’ve made determined efforts over the last decade to integrate family work into the clinical service. We’re using the model developed by William McFarlane et al.1995 of multifamily groups.
Even if psychoeducational family work was acknowledged as the same issue as medical treatment, it was difficult to implement family work as a systematic offer to our patients who had a psychotic disease and their families. In 1998 we started with information evenings for patients and families. The first evening we met 40 families, but this was not enough as a treatment measures.
Method:
The family department consists of two full positions. A clinical specialist psychiatric nurse with master degree of health science and a clinical social worker and family therapist. We are responsible for training and supervision of new group leaders, internal and external.
Our primary task is recruitment and organized the psychoeducational multiple family groups for a variety of diagnosis. At any given time we have 20 groups and 40 active group leaders.
Multifamily groups in Stavanger:
Psychotic disease for adults
Psychotic disease for youth aged 13 to 18 years
Affective disease with psychosis for adults
Affective disease with psychosis for youth aged 13 to 18 years
Groups for couples were one of the partners have a psychotic disease or bipolar disease
People with Drug addiction
Relatives who are living at home with dementia patients
Conclusion:
We cooperate with the early detection team in TIPS. We have weekly meetings with psychosis department and affective disorders department.
Our experience show the importance of constantly making our health system aware og family work, due to shift in personnel. This secures easy access to our family department for the patients and their families.
Systemic family work , Influencing professions , Early intervention
