Background: Cross-cultural psychosis research has mostly focused on outcomes, rather than patient and family experiences. Therefore, our aim was to examine differences in patients' and families' experiences of their treating teams in early intervention services for psychosis in Chennai, India [low- and middle-income country] and Montreal, Canada [high-income country].
Methods: Patients (165 in Chennai, 128 in Montreal) and their families (135 in Chennai, 110 in Montreal) completed Show me you care, a patient- and family-reported experience measure, after Months 3, 12, and 24 in treatment.
Aim: Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) provide valuable information and promote shared decision-making but are infrequently used in psychosis. Self-rated Health (SRH) and Self-rated Mental Health (SRMH) are single-item PROMs in which respondents rate their health and mental health from 'poor' to 'excellent'. We examined the psychometric properties of the SRH and SRMH in early psychosis services in Chennai, India and Montreal, Canada.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: There exist few direct studies of delusional content in psychosis across geo-cultural contexts, especially those in which treatment protocols and measures are comparable. To directly examine an illness outcome that is potentially culturally mediated, this study investigated the baseline presentation and longitudinal trajectory of delusions in first-episode psychosis (FEP) across 2 similar treatment settings in Montréal (Canada) and Chennai (India).
Study Design: Patients entering an early intervention program for FEP in Chennai (N = 168) and Montréal (N = 165) were compared on site-level differences in the presentation of delusions across specific time points over 2 years of treatment.
Aim: Despite their emphasis on engagement, there has been little research on patients' and families' experiences of care in early intervention services for psychosis. We sought to compare patients' and families' experiences of care in two similar early psychosis services in Montreal, Canada and Chennai, India. Because no patient- or family-reported experience measures had been used in a low- and middle-income context, we created a new measure, Show me you care.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: To study the impact of supervised antipsychotic medication discontinuation on clinical and functional outcomes in first-episode psychosis (FEP) in two different cultural environments.
Method: FEP patients(N = 253), treated in two early intervention services (Montreal, Canada and Chennai, India) for 2 years, were assessed for medication use, positive and negative symptom remission and social-occupational functioning at regular intervals.
Results: Between months 4 and 24 of treatment, 107 patients discontinued medication ('Off'group) as compared to 146 who stayed on medication ('On'group).