Schizophrenia is a mental illness that affects a human’s life, adversely, reducing the quality of life. Unfortunately, it is an extremely common and serious chronic disease (NIH, 2017). More than 21 million people all over the world are familiar with it (WHO, 2017). However, schizophrenia can be treated using various approaches. Healthcare professionals tend to define different treatments as the most effective ones, but they do not have a common idea regarding this issue.
Thus, this research will be rather useful because it will discuss the effectiveness of self-management programs for people with schizophrenia and their influence on the reduction of readmissions. For the outcomes to be more clear and precise, this intervention will be compared with individual therapy that is also often used while treating individuals with schizophrenia. On the basis of the information mentioned above, PICOT question can be designed:
In in-patients (P), what is the effect of self-management programs (I) on symptoms relief and readmissions (O) compared with patients who are treated with individual therapy (C) within 30 days (T)?
In this framework, the sample will include in-patients who suffer from schizophrenia. They will be of both genders, as this issue is critical for the whole population. However, adults of different ages will be approached. As men are likely to face this health problem earlier, the sample will include those who are between the ages of 18 and 25. At the same time, females of the ages 25-35 will be included (“Schizophrenia facts and statistics,” n.d.).
In addition to that, it is critical to mention that the sample will have no other issues related to their mental health or those that affect it. People’s personal and demographic characteristics will not be taken into consideration because they do not have much influence on the effectiveness of the discussed treatment options. The sample will include those patients who spent some time at a health care facility where they were under the supervision of professionals and then used therapy for 30 days.
For this research to provide worthy results, the influences of the proposed intervention will be compared with the alternative one. Thus, attention will be paid to self-management programs. Coping and support for the patient and his/her family and friends will be considered. The researcher will define whether the information they learned about schizophrenia and its peculiarities affected the way a person stick to the treatment plan. Assistance provided by support groups will be considered as well as the help of social services. Relaxation and stress management activities will also be discussed (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2016b).
Another psychosocial intervention that will be investigated is individual therapy. In its framework, patients receive information that educates them regarding the ways to cope with stress. It also gives an opportunity to learn to recognize warning signs of relapse, which ensures that the treatment will be obtained in time. Thought patterns are expected to normalize after the therapy (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2016a). Thus, the expected outcomes of these interventions are rather similar, which allows the researcher to compare their effectiveness. The focus will be put on the symptom relief, as patients approach healthcare professionals with this purpose, and reduction of the number of readmissions.
This research question can be answered when assessing the condition of patients for 30 days. It will be advantageous to get the data from the past medical history of the sample. The study is going to be feasible and clinically relevant because it focuses on the currently discussed issues and has a narrow focus (van Schie et al., 2016).
References
Mayo Clinic Staff. (2016a). Schizophrenia. Web.
Mayo Clinic Staff. (2016b). Self-management. Web.
NIH. (2017). Schizophrenia. Web.
van Schie, D., Castelein, S., van der Bijl, J., Meijburg, R., Stringer, B., & van Meijel, B. (2016). Systematic review of self-management in patients with schizophrenia: Psychometric assessment of tools, levels of self-management and associated factors. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 72(11), 2598-2611.
Schizophrenia facts and statistics. (n.d.). Web.
WHO. (2017). Schizophrenia. Web.