Owing to the implementation of the intervention at the CMHC level, the blinding of patients, clinicians, and raters
is not possible, but every effort will be made to preserve the independency of the raters. We expect that this study
will generate evidence on the best treatments for FEP, and will identify barriers that may hinder its feasibility in
‘real-world’ clinical settings, patient/family conditions that may render this intervention ineffective or inappropriate,
and clinical, psychological, environmental, and service organization predictors of treatment effectiveness,
compliance, and service satisfaction.
Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT0143633 1
Keywords: First-episode psychosis, Early psychosis, Cognitive behavioral therapy, Psychosocial intervention,
Assertive community treatment, Family intervention
Background
It has been suggested that most clinical and psychosocial
deterioration in psych osis occurs within the first 5 years
of illness onset, and that this timeframe is a crucial
period for initiating treatment [1]. Recent research
efforts have therefore focused on early detection and
intervention for psychosis, showing that the beneficial
effects of antipsychotic medication on first-episode
psychosis (FEP) are tempered by the fact that, despite
initial symptom reduction, functional recovery is typic-
ally poor even when optimal pharmacological treatment
is provided [2]. Family members are also affected by the
emotional burden of being caregivers, and often show
signs of psychological distress themselves [3]. It is clear
from the literature that pharmacotherapy alone is not
sufficient to prevent relapses or assure functional recov-
ery from acute psychosis [4].
Over the past few years, there has been a growing
interest in psychosocial intervention as a means of facili-
tating recovery and reducing long-term disability asso-
ciated with psychosis [5]. Literature on psychosocial
interventions in FEP can be viewed in terms of two
broad categories [6]: 1) studies evaluating specific (that
is, single-element) psychosocial interventions (for ex-
ample, individual cognitive behavioral therapy), and 2)
studies evaluating comprehensive (that is, multi-elem-
ent) interventions, which may include: early detection
strategies; individual, group, and/or family therapy; and
case management (in addition to pharmacological treat-
ment). These interventions appear promisin g [7] and
have been found to be associated with symptom reduc-
tion/remission, improved quality of life, increased social
and cognitive functioning, low inpatient admission rates,
improved insight, high degree of satisfaction with treat-
ment, less time spent in hospital, decreased substance
abuse, and fewer self-harm episodes.
However, most multi-element research programs have
been conducted in non-epidemiologically representative
samples in experimental settings, thereby raising the risk of
underestimating the complexities involved in treating FEP
in ‘real-world’ services [8]. Moreover, these interventions
have rarely been tested for their efficacy against a control
group, but more typically against historical or prospective
comparison groups, and usuallyonlysingle-groupstudies
have been carried out, which track the progress of a single
group over a given period.
With respect to clinical practice, some countries have
implemented specific early psychosis intervent ions over
the past 10 years, but even these have not yet become
routine [9]. Few studies have identified barriers that may
hinder the feasibility of these interventions or the patient
or family conditions that may render this type of treat-
ment ineffective or inappropriate. Hence, efforts to im-
plement multi-element interventions targeted to FEP in
routine services should be accompanied by rigorous sci-
entific method, with the aim of better understanding the
actual effectiveness of this approach [10,11].
Methods/Design
Aims
The Psychosis early Intervention and Assessment of Needs
and Outcome (PIANO) trial is part of the larger research
program termed Genetics Endophenotypes and Treatment:
Understanding early Psychosis (GET UP; national coord-
inator: Professor Mirella Ruggeri, Verona), funded by the
Italian Ministry of Health as part of a National Health
Care Research Program (Ricerca Sanitaria Finalizzata)
coordinated by the Academic Hospital of Verona (Azienda
Ospedaliera Universitaria Integrata Verona).
GET UP consists of four partner projects : PIANO,
TRaining and Understanding of service Models for Psych-
osis Early Treatment (TRUMPET), Genetic data Utilization
and Implementation of Targeted drug Administration in
the clinical Routine (GUITAR) and COgnitive Neuroendo-
phenotypes for Treatment and RehAbilitation of psychoses:
Brain imaging, InflAmmation and StresS (CONTRABASS).
Each of these partner projects pertains to different areas of
research, but they are linked together.
The GET UP PIANO trial described here is the main
data collection axis for the overall GET UP Research Pro-
gram. T he trial has three aims:
1) To compare, at 9 months, the effectiveness of a
multi-component psychosocial intervention with
Ruggeri et al. Trials 2012, 13:73 Page 2 of 16
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