Development of a continuing care model for psychiatric patients in the community receiving tele-mental health services

Abstract

Presently, tele-mental health (MH) services are utilized for psychiatric patients caring to improve service accessibility and solve the problem of treatment discontinuity. However, operational limitations have been identified. This research and development aimed to develop and evaluate the quality of the continuous care model for psychiatric patients in the community who receive tele-MH services. The research process consisted of three phases: 1) investigate the situation of tele-MH services. The sample consisted of 14 professional nurses. The research instruments consisted of the focus group discussion recording form,
2) develop and verify the continuous care model for psychiatric patients who receive tele-MH services, and 3) examine the effects of the model developed. The sample comprised 14 professional nurses and 90 psychiatric patients. The research instruments consisted of the self-care ability questionnaire, the medication adherence questionnaire and the quality-of-life questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Chi-square test, and t-test. The results revealed that the developed model consisted of guidelines for developing health personnel competencies and continuing care for psychiatric patients. Furthermore, the effects of the developed model indicated that: 1) The self-care ability in terms of metal health, taking medication, and family relationships of the experimental group was significantly higher than that in the control group (p<.05), 2) The medication adherence of the control group was significantly higher than that in the control group (p<.001), and 3) The quality of life of the experimental and the control group were not significant differences. Therefore, this model should be utilized continuously and expanded to tele-MH services to promote self-care ability and medication adherence.