Strengthening Community in Caring for Psychiatric Persons: Homestay Model

Abstract

This study was to evaluate the strengthening community in caring for psychiatric persons using homestay model. The activities consisted of: 1) selecting a target community; 2) setting a meeting of staff and networking; 3) focus group; 4) community survey; 5) staff meeting; 6) implementing the project; 7) evaluating the project. The activities had been implemented since 2012-2013 at the Num-Noy district then extended to Tung-tum-sao community. The result showed that psychiatric persons, caregivers, and community had better attitude and increased experiences in caring for the patients. The relapse rate of target psychiatric persons was 0.  There is a need to continue activities in the other communities.