Training of Community Psychiatric Nurses in Family Work for Schizophrenia

The efficacy of family work for schizophrenia has been established by a series of studies conducted in a variety of centers and cultures [1-9]. Although there have been some failures to replicate this finding [1012], these are explicable in terms of the types of approach used, the brevity of the work, or the lack of training of the practitioners [13]. Despite the body of evidence for its value, schizophrenia family work has not been integrated into routine clinical practice. It is necessary to consider why this is so.