Extended early intervention versus standard psychiatric care for adults with first-episode psychosis
WC Chang1,2, SKW Chan1,2, EHM Lee1, CLM Hui1, EYH Chen1,2
1 Department of Psychiatry, LKS Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong
2 State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, The University of Hong Kong
 
 
1. Adult patients with first-episode psychosis who received 3-year extended Early Assessment Service for Young People with Psychosis (EASY) had significantly shorter treatment delay than those treated with standard psychiatric care.
2. Extended EASY programme was superior to standard care in improving functional outcome and alleviating symptom severity, in particular negative and depressive symptoms.
3. Lack of positive effect of extended EASY programme on reducing admission and suicide rates may be due to the modest sample size. Further investigation involving greater number of patients is required.