Community-Based Mental Health Nursing Program Development For Rehabilitation of Home-Stayed Long-Term Psychiatric Patients in Seong-Buk Gu in Korea

Korean economic development has proceeded at the rapid rate of in the past two decades with neglect to some areas of human development, especially in the case of mental illness. But the government has belatedly recognized the importance and urgency of welfare and health programmes to cope with increasing problems. Mental health problems are more serious among the economically underprivileged than others. Because of large portion of mental patients from the economically underprivileged segment are at the without proper treatment or care. Thus it is imperative to develop easily assessible, cost-effective alternatives that would offer effective mental health care as well as useful social rehabilitation programmes. The government enacted the National Mental Health Law in December 1995. This project will assist to clarify the appropriate roles of the most effective care system. 20 nurse practitioners began a study on voluntary basis to assess the patients and their family with assessment tool which developed by research members. After that managed the 46 patients and their families through telephone or home-visiting, day care center programmes(such as social skill training, group therapy, movement therapy, art therapy) and counselling, refering hospital and family support group. The goals of research is to strengthen the capacity of psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners to undertake home and community-based mental health care services through various training programmes and expected outcome is this programme will be developed continuously and implemented to another community mental health center. Lastly, the cost-effective study of community-based mental health care will have been undertaken with realistic data provided by the pilot programme policy recommendations prepared for the Ministry of Health and Welfare.ope