Hope in family members of persons with mental illness

Hope is a key factor in the process of recovery in mental illness. Family members have an important role in recovery. "Keshet" (Rainbow) program is a dynamic cognitive intervention (DCI) for family members of people with mental illness. We studied the effect of "Keshet" program on increasing hope in family members. A pre and post intervention study in an experimental and control groups was employed. The major outcome was the validated hope score (by Snyder) of family members towards themselves versus their percieved hope toward the affected ill person. There was no difference between groups in hope scores of family members towards themselves. However, the experimental Keshet group had a significant increase in their perceived hope toward the affected ill person with concomitant decrease in the gap between hope of family members toward themselves versus their perceived hope toward the affected ill person. Thus, Keshet program increases the family members hope in their ill person recovery journey. This report should help shed light on the importance of hope among families with mental illness and should be especially useful to anyone interested in mental health in the community.