Effects of a Psychoeducation Program for People with Schizophrenia Aimed at Increasing Subjective Well-Being and the Factors Influencing Those Effects: a Preliminary Study

There have been no intervention studies of psychoeducation programs for schizophrenia that focus on improving subjective well-being or studies to determine the factors influencing such effects. This study aimed to examine the effects of a psychoeducation program combining traditional psychoeducation with a focus on providing knowledge and information and a new intervention to raise patients’ subjective well-being and to clarity the factors affecting the program’s efficacy. Subjects were 117 patients who participated in a psychoeducation program for schizophrenia between 2012 and 2018. In addition to comparing subjective well-being (Subjective Well-being under Neuroleptic Drug Treatment Short Form, Japanese version, SWNS-J) and attitudes towards drugs (Drug Attitude Inventory-10, DAI-10) before and after the program, basic information such as psychiatric symptoms was surveyed. The factors influencing the effects of the program were assessed with multiple regression analysis. Scores for SWNS-J subscales and total SWNS-J score increased significantly after the program. Higher total scores on subjective well-being after the program were significantly associated with having less severe negative symptoms and higher total subjective well-being before the program, and with more positive attitudes toward drugs after the program. These results suggest that intervention with a focus on improving subjective well-being can be an effective part of psychoeducation programs for patients with schizophrenia. The results also suggest that the level of improvement in subjective well-being gained from the program may be higher in patients with milder negative symptoms and patients with a better understanding of drug treatment.