Relatives' participation in a clinical drug trial of schizophrenic outpatients improves their psychologic well-being

Relatives and patients should be considered partners in the management of schizophrenia, but this is often forgotten in clinical drug trials. We measured self-reported psychologic well-being in 90 schizophrenic outpatients and their relatives (n=51) by using the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI-53) in the context of a clinical drug trial. The relatives participated by meeting a community psychiatric nurse three times during 12 weeks. Psychologic distress decreased significantly in the patients and relatives. The outcome of the patients was independent of both drug efficacy and relatives' participation. The participation of relatives in drug trials for chronic schizophrenic outpatients seems to be beneficial by improving their psychologic well-being. We suggest that relatives should be invited to join the drug trials of schizophrenic patients. The intervention described here is easy to use and integrate into clinical practice.