Educational needs among spouses of depressive patients and their illness models of depression

Background: Psycho-educational workshops for families of depressive patients emphasize the provision of information about the patient's illness and methods of coping with it effectively. However, intervention programmes for the specific needs of patients' spouses are rare. To further explore the situation of patients' spouses we examined how spouses of depressive patients view illness behaviour and what kind of further information they need. Method: Interview data from 54 spouses of patients with unipolar depression were analysed as part of the baseline assessment of a study on the economic and health burden experienced by families with mentally ill relatives. Results: Results are discussed in terms of the consequences of spouses' illness models for designing psycho-educational workshops for the families of depressive patients. The results document the great need for negotiated partnership between families and professionals. Furthermore, the need for educating the public about the disorder and its psychosocial costs for the patients' families is highlighted.