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Objective: Community mental health concept is the assumption that individuals needing mental health services will make use of such services if they are available in their communities. While rehabilitation work for patient with mental illnesses in our country was only performed within a hospital or a daytime hospital so far, community- based practices were started in 2008. The target of this model is to follow the treatment of the patients with severe mental illness frequently in the community. Assessment of needs for care is crucial in the evaluation of ongoing changes from care to community mental health. This study aims to assess the extent of needs for mental health care of patients with schizophrenia in Diskapi Community Mental Health Center (CMHC).
Method: The study was conducted in Ankara Diskapi CMHC in the months of June-December 2013. One hundred fifty four patients diagnosed with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder selected from the center’s data bank. After registration, patients were evaluated by interview and identifying the care needs of patients for the evaluation and risk assessment prepared forms were filled in together with patients and their relatives.
Results: Of the 154 patients, 41.6% were female. The average age of patients was 37.3±12.2 years. 85.7% of participants were diagnosed as schizophrenia, 14.3% as schizoaffective disorder, 65.7% were unemployed, 35.1% of the patients interrupted their education due to poor health, 83.7% did not receive any means of support for their health condition. The 36.2% of the patients were devoid of public support. The 69.5% of the patients were unaware of their condition, 39,5% had a history of self-mutilation, 94.2% had an access to objects that could be used in a suicide attempt. The 21.9% were socially isolated.
Conclusion: The present study conducted at Diskapi CMCH enables us to determine the issues that require more attention at CMCH’s. The majority of the patients were unemployed and having financial problems, and they were unable to receive support for poor health, thus devoid of social support. One of the most important issues was that almost half of the patients had additional health problems and their treatment regimens were interrupted, and this problem must be urgently addressed by relevant departments through consultation. The education of patients and their families should be a priority topic as the majority of patients lack awareness about the disease. Social isolation of the patients and lack of social relations are also of high priority issues.