In our own voice-family companion: Reducing self-stigma of family members of persons with serious mental illness

Objective: This article reports preliminary findings from a novel, family peer-based intervention designed to reduce self-stigma among family members of people with serious mental illness. Methods: A total of 158 primary caregivers of patients with schizophrenia were recruited from a large urban mental health facility (93 caregivers) or from a family and consumer advocacy organization (65 caregivers). Caregivers (N= 122) who reported they perceived at least a moderate level of mental illness-related stigma were evaluated on measures of self-stigma, withdrawal, secrecy, anxiety, and social comparison and randomly assigned to receive one of two, one-session group interventions: a peer-led intervention (In Our Own Voice-Family Companion [IOOV-FC]) designed to stimulate group discussion or a clinician-led family education session, which delivered information about mental illness in a structured, didactic format. IOOV-FC consisted of playing a videotape of family members who describe their experiences coping with stigma, which was followed by a discussion led by two family peers who modeled sharing their own experiences and facilitated group sharing. Results: Of 24 family members and ten consumers, 96% rated the videotape above a predetermined acceptability threshold on a 19-item scale assessing cultural sensitivity, respect for different stakeholders, relevance of content, and technical quality (a=.92). Caregivers receiving IOOV-FC with low to moderate pretreatment anxiety reported a substantial reduction in selfstigma (effect size=.50) relative to those receiving clinician-led family education (p=.017) as well as significant reductions in secrecy (p=.031). Conclusions: Peer-led group interventions may be more effective in reducing family self-stigma than clinician-led education, at least for persons reporting experiencing low to moderate anxiety levels on a standard questionnaire.