Psychoeducation for HCV and Alcohol Behaviors

丙型肝炎(丙型肝炎)的医疗治疗需要坚定不移的坚持才能有效，但身体和 目前的药物(干扰素和利巴韦林)引起的精神副作用削弱了患者的积极性 和连贯性。阻碍这些人口获得重要服务的障碍，包括交通和保险 和缺乏稳定的住房，对丙型肝炎病毒的最佳管理构成进一步威胁。促进遵守和 如果家庭成员和重要的其他人能够加入丙型肝炎病毒，患者的支持可能会得到加强 供应商在这方面的努力。心理教育计划，这个团队证明了对患者和 患有严重精神疾病的家庭，可以与丙型肝炎病毒有直接的关联和应用。 拟议的项目将应用一种独特、有效的家庭反应心理教育计划。 (PERF)用于丙型肝炎病毒，这是以前从未在该人群中尝试过的。将比较丙型肝炎病毒-PERF 在一项对400名丙型肝炎患者进行的随机对照试验中进行教育干预。我们的目标是 证明干预措施将扩大一些患者接受丙型肝炎病毒治疗的资格并提供帮助 支持他人渡过难关。该计划将提供丙型肝炎病毒教育和一个论坛，讨论问题的日常 在支持性、主动性和关注问题的议程中生活和应对疾病。主题和 心理教育小组所涵盖的问题将从小组成员表达的利益中产生， 生成特定于参与者的讨论，强调并加强个性化的解决方案 患有慢性病的问题及其难以治疗的治疗方案。这一干预将建立在 丙型肝炎病毒和精神卫生专业人员的技能，其中两名专业人员，一名具有丙型肝炎病毒治疗专业知识 另一位有心理健康背景，领导心理教育小组。研究参与者 将通过几种心理/精神病学测量进行评估，包括应对、功能、社交 当他们考虑或接受标准的丙型肝炎医疗护理时，他们的支持和生活质量。(这项研究 该项目不会干扰常规的丙型肝炎病毒治疗方案。以解决问题为导向 心理教育计划不能取代精神科护理，精神科的转介将是 在适当情况下提供便利。)干预的有效性将通过多个结果来衡量 措施，包括医学指标，如病毒载量。这种创新的干预措施成本低廉， 不需要特殊的设备或困难的程序，并可输出到多种丙型肝炎治疗 并在没有广泛培训的情况下实施。丙型肝炎病毒-PERF有可能产生重大积极影响 以挽救生命、降低成本和改善医疗结果。

Medical treatment of hepatitis C (HCV) requires steadfast adherence to be effective, yet physical and psychiatric side effects induced by current medications (interferon and ribavirin) undermine patient motivation and consistency. Barriers to this population's access to vital services, including transportation and insurance and lack of stable housing, pose further threats to optimal management of HCV. Promotion of adherence and patient support may be enhanced if family members and significant others can be enlisted to join HCV providers in this effort. Psychoeducation programs, demonstrated by this team to be effective for patients and families coping with serious mental illness, can have direct relevance and application to HCV. The proposed project will apply a unique, effective family-responsive psychoeducation program (PERF) for HCV, which has not been previously attempted in this population. HCV-PERF will be compared with a didactic education intervention in a randomized controlled trial with 400 HCV patients. The goal is to demonstrate that the intervention will enlarge the eligibility of some patients for HCV treatment and help sustain others through it. The program will provide HCV education and a forum to discuss problems in daily living and coping with the illness in a supportive, proactive, and problem-focused agenda. The topics and issues covered in the psychoeducation groups will emerge from expressed interests of the group members, generating participant-specific discussions emphasizing and reinforcing personalized solutions to the problems of living with a chronic illness and its difficult treatment regimen. This intervention will build on the skills of HCV and mental health professionals with two professionals, one with HCV treatment expertise and the other a with a mental health background, leading the psychoeducation groups. Study participants will be evaluated with several psychospcial/psychiatric measures including coping, functioning, social support, and quality of life as they contemplate or receive standard medical care for HCV. (Thisresearch project will not interfere with usual HCV treatment regimens. The problem-solving oriented psychoeducation program is not a replacement for psychiatric care, and psychiatric referrals will be facilitated when appropriate.) Effectiveness of the intervention will be measured through multiple outcome measures, including medical markers such as viral load. This innovative intervention is inexpensive, requires no special equipment or difficult procedures, and can be exported to diverse HCV treatment settings and implemented without extensive training. HCV-PERFhas the potential for major positiveimpact on the HCV population to save lives, reduce costs, and improve medical outcomes.