Examination of psychiatry services provided to the families of the individuals with chronic mental illness

Objective: This study was conducted in order to determine the psychiatry services provided to the families of the individuals with chronic mental illness and to examine the effects of family and patient characteristics on their use of these services.Method: Research was carried out in the psychiatry polyclinic and inpatient units of Erenköy Psychiatric Training and Research Hospital between October and December 2010. Sampling was composed of 80 families complying with the inclusion criteria of the research. ?Descriptive information question form? and ?evaluation form for the psychiatry services provided to the families of the individuals with chronic mental illness? were used in data collecting. Figures and percentage distributions were used in assessing the sociodemographic data and the psychiatric services provided to the families of the individuals with chronic mental illness. Comparison of the status of the families to use the provided services according to the patient and family characteristics was performed through the Chi-square analysis.Findings: It was determined in the research that 85 % of the families was interviewed with their families by the service providers (only doctors) while 68,8 % of them was interviewed independently from the patients. Besides, 53,8 % of the families received information about the disease, its symptoms, its treatment and methods to cope with difficult conditions such as reject of the medicine by the patient. Ratios of the families to use the other eight services (providing a group training to the family, participation of the families in the group trainings conducted with the patients, informing the families about how the patients maintain their self cares, providing information to the families about how the patients plan such issues as marriage and business, directing the families to the sources (job application, applying to the social services agencies for financial aid etc.) that they can benefit from in relation to the patient, directing the families to sources that they can benefit from for themselves (social services, relevant associations etc.), informing the families about legal issues (receiving report, suspending the student registration, disability retirement etc.), giving information to the families as regards to the places to which they should resort to in cases of suicide attempt and aggresive behavior) were found relatively low and it was stated that the reason not to use these services was their unavailability.It was detected that families of the patients having the disease for less than 10 years benefited from the service of information provision as regards to maintenance of the self care by the patient much more than the families with periods of disease more than 10 years.Ratios of the families of the patients staying in the clinic to use the services such as being interviewed independently from the patient, receiving group training, participating in the group trainings performed with the patients and being informed about maintenance of the self care by the patient were found to be significantly higher than those of the patients followed from the polyclinics.Ratios of the working families to use such services as being interviewed together with their patients, maintenance of the self care by the patient, planning the marriage and bussiness life, legal issues, places to which they should resort in cases of suicide attempt and aggresive behavior and being directed to the sources that they could benefit from for themselves were found to be significantly higher than those families who were not working.Conclusion and Recommendation: It was found that the services provided to the families of the patients with chronic mental illness except for the services of being interviewed together with or independent from their patients and being informed about the disease, its symptoms, its treatment and methods to cope with difficult situations such as reject of the medicine by the patient were provided to the families rather inadequately. It was also stated that the reason of the families not to use these services was their unavailability. It was determined that some properties such as having family members who did not work, being followed from the polyclinic and having a period of disease more than 10 years effected the use of provided services and thus, families could not receive some services adequately. It is important that the families under these conditions should be included in the training programs to be developed and should be evaluated.Key Words: Chronic Mental Illness, Family, Psychiatry Services