A Case Study of Home Care Nursing for People with Chronic Mental Illness

This study was conducted to identify the basic data necessary to develop a home care protocol for people with chronic mental illnesses and to develop various psychosocial rehabilitation programs. The subject of this study was a 29 year old divorced female diagnosed with schizophrenia, paranoid type. She was hospitalized and discharged from the psychiatric ward of S General Hospital for the second time. A home care nurse assessed the client's psychosocial functions, identified mental problems, planned nursing interventions, performed nursing activities, and evaluated the outcomes. The results were then reflected in the nursing interventions that followed. This study was a case study that reporting recovering process from the mental illness. The data was collected through the in-depth interviews with the subject. The home care nurse visited the client's home eight times. During the first and second sessions, the nurse made assessments and plans, during the third to seventh sessions nursing interventions were made and the eighth session was the termination session. The main nursing problems of the client were the lack of communication skills, social support and insight into the disease, ineffective drug management, the absence of a caregiver, social maladaptation, ineffective stress-coping skills and conflicts with other family members. Focusing on these problems, the nu ovided counseling, psychoeducation, role modeling of social skills and stress coping strategies. The results showed that the client expressed feelings of satisfaction to the home care nursing she received. There were also a decreased number of family conflicts, fewer difficulties at work and increased effective stress coping skills, a greater knowledge of drugs and their side effect, a decrease in noncompliance of drugs, and insight into the mental disease.ope