Abstract
Purpose: To prevent the relapse of symptoms in community-dwelling patients with mental illness, active psychiatric rehabilitation, including psychoeducation for the patients themselves, is essential. This paper reports the process of developing a psychoeducation program practicable by voluntarily acting nurses for schizophrenic inpatients on acute psychiatric units.
Methods: The process of developing the psychoeducation program included three steps: 1） searching for and reviewing psychoeducation-related literature, 2） describing subjective experiences in schizophrenic patients, and 3） developing the program as a nursing intervention.
Results: The resulting program for psychoeducation consists of two types of training materials, a patient's textbook and an instructor's manual, as well as the program structure. This program is expected to encourage schizophrenic patients to accept of medication and illness, improve their medication adherence, and protect against the relapse of symptoms.
