This page was translated automatically from Turkish. Read the original

This page is an AI-assisted Turkish summary of the study presented at the 26th World Congress of Psychiatry. The study belongs to the presenting authors; please refer to the original source when citing it.

EV0769

Family involvement in the care of people with severe mental illness in the Caucasus: implications for community psychiatry

FAMILY INVOLVEMENT IN THE CARE OF SEVERE MENTAL ILLNESS IN THE CAUCASUS: IMPLICATIONS FOR COMMUNITY PSYCHIATRY

Family involvement plays a dual role in severe mental illness: it can support treatment adherence, but it can also delay help-seeking through stigma and reduce autonomy.

The aim was to examine patterns of family involvement in the care of people with severe mental illness in the Caucasus and assess their implications for community psychiatry services. The method was a qualitative service-level analysis based on observation, review of program documents, and discussions with the clinical team in community mental health services in Tbilisi. Families were reported to take responsibility for medication monitoring, daily support, and crisis management; this could support treatment adherence and social stability, but could also create caregiver burden, reduce autonomy, and delay help-seeking in the presence of stigma. It was emphasized that services relied informally on families but rarely offered structured support or psychoeducation. The poster identifies two patterns: when illness is concealed or minimized because of stigma, contact with professionals is postponed and the duration of untreated illness increases; when families take over tasks that the patient could perform, opportunities to practice self-care and independent living skills diminish. Family involvement is considered within a three-part framework comprising under-involvement, collaborative involvement, and overprotection; under-involvement is associated with concealment of illness and prolonged periods without treatment, while overprotection is associated with failure to maintain skills and possible dependence. It is suggested that stigma can operate within the family as well as outside it, and that repeated experiences of shame or concealment at home may be the starting point for self-stigma. The recommendations are therefore to aim for an appropriate rather than maximal level of family involvement, and for caregiver psychoeducation to address stigmatizing beliefs as well as provide information. The poster notes that the findings are preliminary observations from a single service, based on clinical impressions rather than measured prevalence, and that the proposed framework does not constitute a demonstrated causal pathway.

All WCP 2026 summaries