Family Motivational Intervention in Schizophrenia

Cannabis use by people with schizophrenia is associated with family distress and poor clinical outcomes. Therefore, an Family Motivational Intervention (FMI) was developed to help parents to motivate their child with a diagnoses of recent-onset schizophrenia to reduce cannabis use. In a single-blind randomised clinical trail with 75 patients with the diagnosis of schizophrenia, parents will be assigned to either FMI or to routine care. Assessments will be conducted at baseline and at a 10- and 22-month follow-up. The study hypothesis is that FMI will be more effective than routine care in reducing (a) cannabis use in patients and (b) distress and sense of burden in parents.