The Impact of the Community Psychiatric Treatment Program on the User’s Quality of Life - experience of the Study Participants

BACKGROUND: Community psychiatric treatment (CPT) is a novelty in the primary health care system for the people with mental health problems. The service operates according to the Flexible Assertive Community Treatment (FACT) model. FACT is a rehabilitation-oriented clinical case management model based on the ACT model (Assertive Community Treatment). OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess how involvement in a community psychiatry program affects the quality of life of program participants. METHODS: Between December 2020 and March 2021 we conducted a qualitative study. To obtain information, semi-structured interviews with twelve patients treated in the Community Psychiatric Treatment program were conducted. All restriction regarding COVID pandemic were considered at the research. Content analysis of the text was used for data analysis, which means that we interpreted the analysed text and determine the meaning of individual parts of the text. RESULTS: Twelve persons participated in the interviews, six of which were women (50%) and six men (50%). All the participants were of Slovenian nationality. They were from 28 to 80 years old, with a mean age of 47 years. We identified twelve categories and four themes: treatment problems, principles of operating of CPT program, satisfaction with inclusion in the CPT and improvement of quality of life through inclusion in the program. CONCLUSION: Quality of life is essential for every individual, as well as for people with mental health problems. In our study we have proved that the Community psychiatric programs could significantly impact the quality of life of people with mental health problems.