ABSTRACT
This chapter examines some of the background from which family management developed, reviews the efficacy of family management on a range of outcome measures and also examines the attempts to disseminate family management through training programmes. The development of neuroleptic medication was heralded as a major advance in the management of schizophrenia, since the use of these drugs considerably reduced the positive symptoms of schizophrenia. The model was refined by Nuechterlein and his colleagues and puts forward a psychobiological formulation of schizophrenia and its course which suggests that a range of biological, psychological and psychosocial factors interact and determine the course and outcome of schizophrenia. The intervention studies have used a range of outcome measures, but the outcome of primary interest has been relapse. Some investigators have made more strenuous efforts than others to measure a range of outcomes, which can be classified as follows: relapse; social functioning; family functioning; burden of care; and economic cost.
