Abstract

This study investigated the impacts of medication/symptom management education program on persons with psychiatric disorder. Participants for the study were 21 clients with chronic mental illness(the experimental group 10, a control group with no treatment 11). Psychoeducation program were administered two times weekly, total 19 sessions and tested pre, post, and 6 months after. The results showed that first, clients assigned to psychoeducation program had more favorable knowledge scores than controls in feature of mental illness, medication and symptom management test. Second, the experimental group also showed lowered tendency on total SCL 90-R scores than the control group, significantly being reduced in obsessive- compulsiveness, anxiety and phobic symptom. Third, the monitoring change readiness revealed that education gained both contemplation stage and maintenance stage scores. And in the number of person in stages over time, while the number of person within a precontemplation stage increased in controls, persons within a action stage increased in experimentals. It implies that psychoeducation program develops change readiness and also keeps clients from retrogressing themselves into lower stages of change readiness. Finally suggestions about medication/symptom education service delivered in clinical practice were discussed.