Cited by 33Family Caregiving in Mental IllnessCounseling, Therapy, and Family DynamicsSchizophrenia research and treatment

Delivering cognitive-behavioural family interventions for schizophrenia

Open access
Onwumere, Juliana, Grice, Sarah, Kuipers, Elizabeth·2016·Australian Psychologist

Abstract

BackgroundIn 1993, Kavanagh and colleagues outlined outcomes from a training programme designed to equip mental health practitioners to deliver evidence‐based cognitive‐behavioural family interventions within routine care. The authors highlighted how the training had not been able to deliver notable increases in the numbers of families being seen by the trained clinicians. There were significant issues in the translation and provision of family interventions within clinical settings, specifically difficulties with the integration of family interventions and caseload demands, and insufficient time within job plans and service settings to undertake the work. The authors posed the question: what can the matter be? Interestingly, the same question was being asked over a decade later.ObjectiveThe current article provides a narrative review of the issues on implementation of family interventions in psychosis.ResultsCurrent evidence suggests that while there exist pockets of good practice and provision for family interventions, it was a mistake to assume that care coordinators would be able to include these family interventions as part of their role, effectively to add duties without significant modification to their current roles and duties. It also seems to have been an underestimate of the skills required for delivering family work in psychosis and the ongoing requirements for high‐quality supervision.ConclusionWe argue for carer specialists to be involved in mental health teams, particularly early intervention teams, and for a triage system to offer families a range of evidence‐based support, as well as family interventions for more complex problems and presentations.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1111/ap.12179

Cites

135 of 135 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Nothing to recompute.

Claims the paper makes

0 of 72 cited sources checked · 0 supported · 0 flagged

  • Premisecitation
    § Caregiving Experiences

    Caregiving in psychosis can be particularly stressful and burdensome.

    “Data spanning several decades confirm that caregiving in psychosis can be particularly stressful and burdensome”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 2 sources checked
    • cites Boydell et al., 2014

      Not checked in the free run.

    • cites Flyckt et al., 2013

      Not checked in the free run.

  • Premisecitation
    § Caregiving Experiences

    High expressed emotion in informal caregiving relationships predicts more service user relapses and hospital admissions.

    “Informal caregiving relationships characterised by high levels of caregiver criticism, and/or hostility, and/or emotional over involvement, commonly described as high expressed emotion (EE), are predictive of a greater number of service user relapses and hospital admissions.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Bebbington & Kuipers, 1994

      Not checked in the free run.

  • Premisecitation
    § Introduction

    Informal caregiving relationships can reduce the need for and length of inpatient admissions.

    “informal caregiving relationships can reduce the need for and length of inpatient admissions”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Norman et al., 2005

      Not checked in the free run.

  • Premisecitation
    § What this paper adds

    Almost 25% of trained therapists in Kavanagh et al.'s sample reported finding it extremely difficult or impossible to use the family intervention.

    “Almost 25% reported finding it extremely difficult or impossible to use the intervention”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Kavanagh et al. (1993)

      Not checked in the free run.

  • Premisecitation
    § Caregiving Experiences

    Carers of people with psychosis report burnout and emotional exhaustion at levels equivalent to those reported by paid psychiatric staff.

    “Carers also report feelings of burnout and emotional exhaustion, at equivalent levels to those reported by paid psychiatric staff”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Angermeyer, Bull, Bernert, Dietrich, & Kopf, 2006

      Not checked in the free run.

  • Classified as probably not a substantial claim. 13
  • May combine two claims. 14
  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S4 (based).

    Interpretationnone given
    § What this paper adds

    Innovative service models that use triage and target specific needs and presentations appear to have value.

    “Innovative service models utilising a triage approach and targeting specific needs and presentations seem to have value.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Premisecitation
    § Caregiving Experiences

    Carers of people with psychosis are nearly 10 times more likely to be isolated than matched non-caring samples.

    “recent figures suggest carers are nearly 10 times more likely to be isolated compared with matched non-caring samples”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Hayes et al., 2015

      Not checked in the free run.

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing), S4 (based). May combine two claims.

    Premisenone given
    § What is already known on this topic

    Family interventions for psychosis have a strong, long-standing evidence base and are recommended treatments in several countries.

    “Family interventions for psychosis have a strong and long evidence base and are recommended treatments in several countries.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Premisecitation
    § What is already known on this topic

    Family interventions for psychosis are acceptable to service users, carers, and families.

    “Family interventions are acceptable interventions to service users and carers.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 3 sources checked
    • cites Budd & Hughes, 1997

      Not checked in the free run.

    • cites Nilsen, Frich, Friis, Norheim, & Rossberg, 2014

      Not checked in the free run.

    • cites Stanbridge, Burbach, Lucas, & Carter, 2003

      Not checked in the free run.

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Premisecitation
    § Caregiving Experiences

    Approximately 40% of carers of people with psychosis report depression and emotional dysfunction.

    “with approximately 40% of carers reporting depression and emotional dysfunction”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 3 sources checked
    • cites Dyck, Short, & Vitaliano, 1999

      Not checked in the free run.

    • cites Hayes, Hawthorne, Farhall, O'Hanlon, & Harvey, 2015

      Not checked in the free run.

    • cites Kuipers & Raune, 2000

      Not checked in the free run.

  • May combine two claims.

    Interpretationreasoning
    § Delivering Family Interventions: Exploring New Ways of Working

    Digital and technological interventions may offer more cost- and time-efficient approaches to meeting the needs of service users with psychosis and their families and improve accessibility.

    “They may offer far more cost- and time-efficient approaches to meeting the needs of service users with psychosis and their families and improve accessibility.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Premisecitation
    § Family Interventions-The Evidence Base

    UK NICE 2014 guidelines recommend that family interventions be offered to families of service users with psychosis who are living with or in close contact with them, with a minimum of 10 sessions over 3 to 12 months.

    “The recent UK NICE (2014) psychosis and schizophrenia guidelines recommend that family interventions should be on offer to families of service users with psychosis who are living with (or in close contact 1 ), and include a minimum of 10 sessions over a 3- to 12-month period (NICE, 2014).”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites NICE, 2014

      Not checked in the free run.

  • Classified as probably not a substantial claim.

    Interpretationreasoning
    § Family Interventions, So What Is the Matter?

    The combination of organisation and workforce issues, specifically training, supervision, and opportunities to practise, seems most relevant to implementation of family interventions.

    “It is, however, the combination of organisation and workforce issues, specifically as they relate to training, supervision, and opportunities to practise, that seems most relevant.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim
  • May combine two claims.

    Premisecitation
    § Delivering Family Interventions: Exploring New Ways of Working

    The UK IAPT-SMI service model delivers family interventions by clinicians trained at expert level, receiving regular high-level supervision, and working in dedicated therapy posts.

    “family interventions are delivered by clinicians trained at the expert level, receiving regular high-level supervision, but recruited to and working in dedicated therapy posts.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites IAPT-SMI

      Not checked in the free run.

  • May combine two claims.

    Premisecitation
    § Family Interventions-The Evidence Base

    Perceived benefits reported by service users and carers include improved communication between family members and problem-solving skills.

    “The perceived benefits, as reported by service user and carers, have included improved communication between family members and problem-solving skills”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Nilsen et al., 2014

      Not checked in the free run.

  • May combine two claims.

    Premisecitation
    § Delivering Family Interventions: Exploring New Ways of Working

    Brief family interventions lend themselves to delivery by frontline mental health staff and are less dependent on role or service redesign.

    “These brief interventions lend themselves to delivery by frontline mental health staff and are less dependent upon role and/or service redesign to undertake the work”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Roddy, Onwumere, & Kuipers, 2014

      Not checked in the free run.

  • May combine two claims.

    Premisecitation
    § Delivering Family Interventions: Exploring New Ways of Working

    The South London service approach enabled highly trained staff to focus on delivering family interventions for psychosis and coordination-role staff to deliver brief standalone interventions, with the latter still requiring dedicated protected time and supervision.

    “The approach actively enabled the more highly trained staff to focus on delivering Fip, and those in coordination roles to deliver brief, standalone interventions; the latter still required agreement for dedicated and protected time to undertake the work and access supervision”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Grice, 2014

      Not checked in the free run.

  • Classified as probably not a substantial claim.

    Interpretationreasoning
    § Family Interventions-We Know What the Matter Is

    Applying similar principles to family interventions for psychosis, poor implementation after training is attributable to laudable but overambitious goals from service providers.

    “If we apply similar principles to FIp, where the picture is arguably more complicated, since the interventions often rely on having two staff members and out of hours work to support the attendance of family members, it could be argued that poor implementation post-training is attributable to laudable, but overambitious goals from service providers.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim
    • Rests on an assumption: The implementation difficulties and lessons from cognitive-behavioural therapy for psychosis can be generalized to family interventions for psychosis.
  • May combine two claims.

    Premisecitation
    § Family Interventions-The Evidence Base

    Reported benefits of family interventions to carers include significant decreases in care burden and increased positivity about caregiving and willingness to continue.

    “the reported benefits of family interventions to carers have included significant decreases in reports of care burden and increased positivity about caregiving and willingness to continue”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 3 sources checked
    • cites Berglund, Vahlne, & Edman, 2003

      Not checked in the free run.

    • cites Devaramane, Pai, & Vella, 2011

      Not checked in the free run.

    • cites Lobban et al., 2013

      Not checked in the free run.

  • Classified as probably not a substantial claim.

    Premisecitation
    § Family Interventions-We Know What the Matter Is

    It is not realistic to expect staff who are not in therapy roles to complete the work without role revisions and protected time.

    “The authors concluded that it was perhaps not realistic to expect staff who are not in therapy roles to complete the work without role revisions and protected time.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Jolley et al., 2012

      Not checked in the free run.

  • May combine two claims.

    Interpretationcitation
    § Family Interventions, So What Is the Matter?

    The gap between published treatment recommendations and actual delivery of family interventions is evident and owes little to the style in which treatment guidance is prepared.

    “The gap between published treatment recommendations and what is actually delivered and implemented is evident and owes little to the style in which treatment guidance is prepared”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Ince, Tai, & Haddock, 2015

      Not checked in the free run.

  • May combine two claims.

    Premisecitation
    § Family Interventions-The Evidence Base

    A Cochrane review found that family interventions significantly reduce relapse, hospital admissions, and high expressed emotion, and improve patient social functioning and treatment engagement.

    “A Cochrane review of studies conducted worldwide confirm that family interventions can significantly reduce levels of relapse, hospital admissions, and high EE, and lead to measurable improvements in patient social functioning and treatment engagement”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Pharoah, Mari, Rathbone, & Wong, 2010

      Not checked in the free run.

  • May combine two claims.

    Premisecitation
    § Family Interventions, So What Is the Matter?

    In the UK, only 1.6% of eligible people are offered family interventions for psychosis and 1.1% receive them.

    “data suggest only 1.6% of those eligible are offered FIp and 1.1% received it”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Haddock et al., 2014

      Not checked in the free run.

  • May combine two claims.

    Premisecitation
    § Family Interventions, So What Is the Matter?

    Implementation barriers for family interventions include organisational issues, workforce issues, and family factors.

    “These have included organisational issues (e.g., competing priorities for staff and services, resource shortages, reduced capacity, and high caseloads for staff), workforce issues (e.g., poor understanding about family interventions and recovery, training and supervision access), and family factors (e.g., service user and carer engagement issues”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 3 sources checked
    • cites Burbach & Stanbridge, 2006

      Not checked in the free run.

    • cites Casacchia & Roncone, 2014

      Not checked in the free run.

    • cites Fadden, 2006

      Not checked in the free run.

  • May combine two claims.

    Premisecitation
    § Family Interventions, So What Is the Matter?

    Access to evidence-based health interventions is problematic and is poorer for people with psychosis.

    “Access to evidence-based health interventions are problematic and are poorer for people with psychosis”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Rowlands, 2004

      Not checked in the free run.

  • May combine two claims.

    Premisecitation
    § Delivering Family Interventions: Workforce and Organisational Issues

    The largest provision of family work was delivered by a small group of trained practitioners, and those completing longer-term training appeared to yield better findings than brief models.

    “The largest provision was delivered by a small group of trained practitioners, and those completing longer term training (e.g., 1 year or higher) appeared to yield much better findings compared with brief models”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Mairs & Bradshaw, 2005

      Not checked in the free run.

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Premisecitation
    § Delivering Family Interventions: Exploring New Ways of Working

    The benefits of family-led and peer-supported interventions are attracting attention.

    “Similarly, the benefits of family-led and peersupported interventions are also attracting attention”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Duckworth & Halpern, 2014

      Not checked in the free run.

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

    Premisecitation
    § Conclusion

    Family interventions in psychosis were described nearly 20 years ago as effective but underused.

    “Family interventions in psychosis were described nearly 20 years ago as effective but underused interventions”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Anderson & Adams, 1996

      Not checked in the free run.

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S2 (checkable), S4 (based).

    Interpretationnone given
    § Conclusion

    To find the most efficient and cost-effective ways for staff to provide the full range of evidence-based interventions to service users, families, and carers alone, training additional practitioners is not enough.

    “Identifying the most time-efficient and cost-effective strategies for the workforce to deliver the range of evidencebased interventions to both service users and their families, and carers on their own, requires more than simply training more practitioners.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
    • Rests on an assumption: A large proportion of people with psychosis have informal carers living with them or remain in regular contact with such carers, especially soon after first onset.
    • Rests on an assumption: Relationships with informal carers can improve outcomes for service users and help mental health services in their work.
  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Premisecitation
    § Note

    Evidence from general caring population studies supports that 10 hours per week or more of caring contact indicates a greater level of strain for carers.

    “Although no specific criterion was offered, evidence in support of 10 hr per week or greater caring contact being indicative of a greater level of strain for carers has been reported in general caring population studies (e.g., Smith et al., 2014).”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites Smith et al., 2014

      Not checked in the free run.

25 of 25
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The implementation difficulties and lessons from cognitive-behavioural therapy for psychosis can be generalized to family interventions for psychosis.

    “If we apply similar principles to FIp, where the picture is arguably more complicated”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    It is feasible for each psychosis mental health team to have access to at least one specialist therapist in a dedicated therapy role.

    “At the very least, we suggest that each psychosis mental health team should have access to at least one specialist therapist.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    A large proportion of people with psychosis have informal carers living with them or remain in regular contact with such carers, especially soon after first onset.

    “Despite the deleterious effect of psychosis on social networks, many service users with psychosis will live with or maintain regular contact with informal carers, particularly in the early years following first onset.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Relationships with informal carers can improve outcomes for service users and help mental health services in their work.

    “Informal caregiving relationships can optimise service user outcomes and support the work of mental health services.”
4 of 4

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

3 of the 138 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 6

  1. Barrowclough C., 1992, Families of schizophrenia patients: Cognitive behavioural intervention
  2. Bradshaw T., 2000, Mental Health Nursing, 20, 10
  3. 10.1136/bmjopen‐201400610810.1136/bmjopen‐2014‐006108 · DOI
  4. Falloon I. R., 1984, Family care and schizophrenia: A problem solving approach to the treatment of mental illness
  5. Grice, S. (2014) Southwark family intervention for psychosis service audit and review. South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust internal document, available from the author.
  6. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). (2003). NICE guidelines for psychological treatment in schizophrenia. London: Gaskell Press.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Onwumere, J., Grice, S., & Kuipers, E.
Affiliations
King's College London (GB)
Corresponding author
Onwumere, Juliana
Venue
Australian Psychologist
Published
2016-02-01
Volume
51
Issue
1
Pages
52-61
ISSN
  • 0005-0067 (ISSN-L)
  • 1742-9544
OpenAlex
W2262793234
Cited by
33
References
138
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 2
FWCI
6.70
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Australian Psychologist (publishedVersion)
  • Research Portal (King's College London) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Family Caregiving in Mental Illness
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Counseling, Therapy, and Family Dynamics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Schizophrenia research and treatment
Keywords
schizophrenia, psychosis, early intervention teams, usual care

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Claims read by deepseek-v4.1-flash under definition version 3 (extract-v3) on 2026-09-29.

Classified by jev-1.13-20260917 (gold-guideline-v0.2) on 2026-09-29.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review