The effectiveness of the illness management and recovery program in individuals with schizophrenia: A systematic review

INTRODUCTION: One of the interventions to increase the functionality of individuals with schizophrenia, to ensure illness self-management, and to achieve recovery goals is the Illness Management and Recovery (IMR) Program. This study is a systematic review to determine the effects of the IMR program applied to individuals with schizophrenia.
METHODS: The search was conducted on PubMed, Wiley Online Library, Science Direct, Ovid, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Springer Link, Ulakbim Turkish Medical Directory, and Turkish Medline databases using three Turkish and three English keywords. The 197 studies accessed were evaluated in accordance with the PRISMA 2020 guideline and inclusion–exclusion criteria. As a result of the evaluation, four articles were included in the review.
RESULTS: It was observed that one of the articles was quasi-experimental, two of them were experimental studies with pre-test and post-test control groups, and one was a randomized controlled follow-up study. The articles were assessed in terms of sample properties, the measurement tools used, application properties, and received results.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: As a result of the assessment, the program was observed to have positive effects on the general functionality, activity in self-management, quality of life, life satisfaction, daily life in community life, self-efficacy in social relationships, total psychiatric symptoms, positive symptoms, lack of insight and judgment, social functionality, IMR levels, and left superior temporal gyrus and left inferior frontal gyrus cortical thicknesses of individuals with schizophrenia. In line with these results, it is recommended that nurses who care for individuals with schizophrenia include the program in their daily care to decrease the negative effects of the disease, contribute to the IMR of the patients, and increase their functionality. In addition, it is recommended that psychiatric nurses plan and implement the program and take an active part in new studies with high evidence value.