Needs and demands for community psychiatric rehabilitation programs from the perspectives of patients and caregivers

Abstract

This study interviewed 182 pairs of patients and caregivers to explore the needs and demands for community programs for patients with chronic mental illness and to detect the factors associated with them. The most needed and demanded programs were structured day services (69.2 vs. 78.6%), club house (71.4 vs. 74.2%), and caregiver support (72.5 vs. 74.7%). The needs and demands perceived by both patients and caregivers ranged from 3.3 to 31.9%, while those perceived by either patients or caregivers ranged from 25.8 to 72.5%. Needs and demands for individual programs were higher in caregivers (67, 65.9%) than in patients (41.2, 42.9%) and the proportion of demand (42.3-78.6%) for the eight programs was greater than the need (25.8-72.5%) for programs. The results showed that married and younger caregivers needed and demanded active community programs and the patients with a higher level of education favored a club house with high autonomy.