A Systematic Review on the Effects of Educational Interventions in Schizophrenia Treatment Programs

Abstract

Treatment of schizophrenia requires not just antipsychotics but also other measures like education. The purpose of this research is
to determine how effective educational interventions are for persons with schizophrenia (PwS) as part of treatment programs. A
manual search in addition to searches in two electronic databases (Science Direct and PubMed) were used to identify papers that
met the criteria. A number of precise phrases were included in the search, including: ("people with schizophrenia" OR "patients
with schizophrenia"), "education" OR "knowledge"), and "medication adherence" OR "medication compliance" OR "medication
persistence"). This systematic review followed the PRISMA reporting standards. Articles were screened for inclusion and data was
extracted by a team of three reviewers. Using a technique developed by the Cochrane Collaboration to evaluate the risk of bias in
randomized trials, the quality of the chosen studies was determined. From 2012 to 2022, a total of 666 studies were considered;
however, only seven of them were deemed suitable for a comprehensive assessment. Patients may receive educational treatments
as part of their treatment plan or as an independent psychoeducational program aimed at the whole family or caregiver. Many
different types of medical experts, such as researchers, therapists, psychiatrists, and pharmacists, provide these treatments. Each
intervention has a different length, but often consists of three to eight sessions, with 45 to 120 minutes of each session. When it
comes to enhancing adherence, quality of life, stigma, and insight, educational treatments provide mixed results. But their
knowledge scores, social functioning, and cognitive abilities all show improvement. Variations in patient characteristics,
techniques, and measuring tools are part of the limitations that impact research findings. Clinicians might use these results to
personalize educational programs in the future, taking into account each patient's unique requirements and features.