Situation of community mental health services in Turkey : A qualitative study

Objective: The aim of this study is to present a literature review of research conducted on community mental health services between the years of 2000-2017 in Turkey and to describe the current state of community mental health organizations. In addition, this study identifies current problems and proposes recommendations. Method: This study utilizes qualitative methods in two stages. First, through the use of mapping method we present a metareview of all research completed between 2000 and 2017 in Turkey on community mental health services and all relevant institutions and organizations. In the second stage, key informants identifed during the mapping analysis (10 out of 24 people were reached) and 11 more people referred by key informants were interviewed by using in-depth interviews. All interviews took place at the key informants' workplace, and taped with permission. All taped interviews were transcribed prior to coding. Content analysis method has been employed in the analysis of data. The study was conducted with the approval of the Dokuz Eylül University Ethical Committee for Non-Interventional Research. Findings: Seventy-eight research article and thesis are found on community mental health services between the years of 2000-2017 in Turkey. The content analysis of the interviews with the key informants revealed six main themes: "quality and development of community mental health services", "manpower", "finance", "organizational issues", "legislation" and "health policies". Inefficient planning of the community mental health services, lack of preventive mental health services and inconsistencies across Community Mental Health Centers were identified as central issues. Result: Although there are some positive initiatives related to community mental health services in Turkey, insufficient number of researches and low quality resources across services, planning, organizing, finance and manpower are major problems that need to be addressed. Key Words: Community Mental Health Centers, Community Mental Health Services, Health Services Research