Psychoeducational and support groups for families of mentally ill adults may not be adequately addressing the needs of spouses with mentally ill partners. This paper describes a group psychoeducational approach which has been developed and implemented through collaboration between professionals and well spouses. The high attrition of spouses in a general family psychoeducational group was dramatically reduced in this spouse psychoeducational group. Significant improvements were found in well spouse knowledge about the illness and coping strategies, personal distress, and negative attitudes towards the ill spouse over the 3-month intervention and at 1-year followup. Implications for practitioners and researchers are discussed.

One hundred eighty-three relatives of people with serious mental illnesses were randomly assigned to receive individualized consultation or group psychoeducation or were placed on a 9-month wait list. Analysis of variance and multiple regression revealed that the individualized consultation increased the family members' sense of self-efficacy regarding mentally ill relatives. Group psychoeducation was helpful in increasing self-efficacy of family members who had never participated in a support or advocacy group for relatives of psychiatrically disabled individuals.

The retention of benefits from two models of family education was compared with maturational effects in an untreated control group. The three-month interventions showed an initial effect for self-efficacy regarding a mentally ill relative that did not significantly diminish during the following six months. However, no significant differences on this measure were found between the treated groups and the untreated controls. Ways of refining the interventions and measures so as to improve gains and retain them over time are discussed.

A study of the adjustment difficulties and needs of 70 adults with Williams syndrome found that the majority continued to live at home and remained heavily dependent on their families for their self-care. Twenty-nine families (41.4%) had had no contact with a social worker in the preceding 2 years, and 34 out of the 48 families whose children still lived at home (70.8%) had no access to respite care. Advice regarding benefits, and appropriate living and occupational arrangements for the adults was also patchy. Despite progressive medical problems, and high rates of behavioural and emotional difficulties, only 20 adults (29%) were receiving regular health checks, while 21 (30%) had had some contact with a mental health service in the preceding 2 years. In the majority of cases, families continued to shoulder the main burden of care for their sons and daughters with Williams syndrome well into adulthood, with little support from statutory and voluntary agencies. The implications of these findings are considered with regard to the principles of community care.