It is estimated that 9-14% of children from birth to age 5 experience social and emotional problems that may significantly affect their ability to learn later in life and students of any age may experience an array of problems resulting in difficulty learning. Although interventions are available to address these issues within the school context, government funding for programs is often limited to those that are evidence based. Student Assistance Programs (SAPs) address a variety of barriers to learning but many are not supported by empirical evidence. The purpose of the study was to determine if Breakthrough, a specific SAP, had a significant effect on the dependent variables of grade point average, attendance, and behavioral referrals among N = 727 public school students in Grades 9-12. The independent variables were completion or noncompletion of the program, time, and grade level. This quantitative study used a systems perspective, nonequivalent control group design. The statistical analyses performed were a mixed ANOVA and a generalized estimating equation. The interaction of treatment, time, and grade level were found to be significant on attendance, and the interaction between treatment and time on was found to be significant for attendance. The main effect of time was found to be significant on grade point average, attendance, and behavioral referrals. The main effect of treatment was found to be significant on number of behavioral referrals. Increasing the types of supports for school-aged students may bring positive social change by allowing for higher academic achievement and by intervening with issues that may follow students into adulthood such as mental illness and substance abuse.

På senare år har antalet slutenvårdsplatser i Sverige minskat. Detta har lett till att patienter med psykisk ohälsa själva behöver bli experter på sin sjukdom. I flera delar av landet erbjuds därför psykopedagogiska interventioner som komplement till farmakologisk behandling vid behandling av bipolär sjukdom. Interventionerna har olika struktur och innehåll, men alla syftar till att stärka patienten och ge denne verktyg för att kunna hantera sin sjukdom. Syftet med denna studie var att belysa deltagarnas erfarenheter av att ha deltagit i den psykopedagogiska interventionen som Psykiatri Södra i Stockholm erbjuder, vilka nya kunskaper de har fått och vad de har tyckt varit givande/ mindre givande. Studiens design var kvalitativ och genomfördes med hjälp av personliga intervjuer. Vi tillfrågade 25 personer vilka samtliga har deltagit i psykopedagogiska interventioner. Av dessa tackade sju ja till intervjuerna. Innehållsanalys användes som metod vid bearbetandet av intervjuerna. Resultatet visar att deltagarna hade blivit stärkta i sig själva, att de hade lärt sig att separera sig själva från sjukdomen och att de hade fått större förståelse för vad de kan göra för att förhindra uppkomsten av nya skov. Framför allt visar dock resultatet att deltagarna hade blivit en del av en grupp, det vill säga fått en känsla av sammanhang, vilket de flesta dittills hade saknat i livet. Psykiatrin har en viktig roll i att aktivt bjuda in patienter och anhöriga till psykopedagogiska interventioner. Trots att forskningen påvisar att det bara finns fördelar med psykopedagogiska interventioner, finns det alldeles för få utbildningsplatser för att täcka patienternas behov. En del av specialistsjuksköterskans roll blir att se till att psykopedagogik implementeras i den psykiatriska vården. / During the last years institutional care in Sweden has decreased, which has led to the fact that patients need to become experts on their own disorder. In several parts of the country psycho educational interventions are offered as a complement to pharmacological treatment when treating people with bipolar disorder. The intervention programs have different structures and contents, but they all aim to strengthen the patient and provide him or her with tools to manage the disease. The aim of the study was to illuminate the participants’ experiences of taking part in a psycho educational intervention program offered by Psykiatri Södra in Stockholm, what sort of new knowledge they acquired, what was good/ less good. The design of the study was qualitativeand it was performed through personal interviews. Everyone who participated in the last intervention was asked to participate in the study. The sample was based on the above, and in the end seven people accepted taking part in an interview. A qualitative content analysis was used to process the interviews. The results showed that the participants felt empowered, they had learned to separate themselves from the disease, they had a bigger understanding for what they themselves could do to prevent new relapses, but most of all they had become a part of a group, and they finally felt a sense of coherence which they previously lacked in life.  Psychiatric caregivers have an important part in actively inviting people with bipolar disorder and their relatives to psycho educational intervention programs. Even though research shows that there only are benefits in psycho educational intervention programs, there aren’t enough programs to cover all in need.  A part of the specialist nurse’s roll therefore is to implement psycho educational intervention programs in psychiatric care.