| Social Support is an important factor in helping individuals with Severe and Persistent Mental Illness (SPMI) and who are at risk for repeated hospitalization and/or homelessness. Given the recursive cycles of relapse these individuals experience, social workers have struggled to increase positive social support and community integration, thus reducing social isolation. Community Awareness through Psychoeducation (CAPE), a modified psychoeducational intervention which focused on improving outcomes for the participants as measured by decreased loneliness, increased functioning in everyday activities and increased perception of functioning and coping, was tested at two sites in New York City. The CAPE groups include 12 sessions with each session lasting approximately one and a half hours. The sessions cover a proscribed psychoeducational curriculum which is focused on topics related to SPMI, with an emphasis on stress and coping, hope and resilience, and building self and community awareness as well as individual and community supports. Using an experimental design, 40 participants were assigned to either a CAPE group or were waitlisted for a future group. This waitlist served as a comparison to participants who attended the CAPE intervention. Preliminary findings show that the intervention temporarily improved participants' treatment outcomes, as measured by a reduction in social isolation and an increased ability to adhere to treatment plans and to meet treatment goals. |
