Nursing Interventions Provided by Psychiatric Home Visit Nurses in Japan

Abstract

Psychiatric home visit nursing provides an important role in community care for people with mental disorders. Several reports indicated that home visits were associated with rate reduction of readmission to psychiatric wards and reduced hospital stays, however the type of care provided by visiting nurses has not been described. Thus, this study developed a description and categorization of care provided in psychiatric home visit nursing.
Interviews were conducted with 18 home visiting nurses. Data were analyzed qualitatively, and eight foci of care were extracted with 58 care domains and 222 care contents listed. The foci of care included: 1) maintaining everyday life / life skills acquisition and expansion, 2) maintaining and building interpersonal skills, 3) coordinating family relationships, 4) psychological support / preventing the exacerbation of psychosis, 5) providing physical care / preventing exacerbation physical symptoms, 6) creating support networks / cooperating in community psychiatric support system, 7) facilitating social support use, 8) empowering consumers. This research contributes to ongoing efforts to identify and measure the amount and content of care as well as to the development of standards of practice for the psychiatric home visit.