Family interventions for relapse preventions in people with schizophrenia: Systematic review and network meta-analysis

The project was funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) (FKZ 01KG1803).

The project investigates the effect and acceptance of family interventions in the relapse prevention of schizophrenia.

The evidence on family interventions for patients with schizophrenia indicates a protective factor against psychotic exacerbations and hospitalisations. Multiple family intervention models exist, comprising psychoeducational, behavioral, systemic, and other approaches. However, it has not yet been studied which model is best for preventing relapse.

The network meta-analysis method allows estimating effect sizes for all possible comparisons of different family interventions, whether or not they were directly compared in a trial, allowing a comprehensive review of all available evidence.

The protocol of the study was registered a-priori in Prospero under the number CRD42020169951, (see here).

The results of the project were published in The Lancet Psychiatry:

Rodolico A*, Bighelli I*, Avanzato C, Concerto C, Cutrufelli P, Mineo L, Schneider-Thoma J, Siafis S, Signorelli MS, Wu H, Wang D, Furukawa TA, Pitschel-Walz G, Aguglia E, Leucht S. Family interventions for relapse prevention in schizophrenia: a systematic review and network meta-analysis. Lancet Psychiatry. 2022 Mar;9(3):211-221. doi: 10.1016/S2215-0366(21)00437-5. Epub 2022 Jan 31. Erratum in: Lancet Psychiatry. 2022 Feb 23;: PMID: 35093198. (Link) (*Jointly co-first authors)

The project was primarily conducted by Dr. Alessandro Rodolico and Dr. Irene Bighelli, contact: alessandro.rodolico@phd.unict.it

Supervisor: Professor Stefan Leucht