[The visit at home by a social worker of a psychiatric outpatient clinic]. / Der Hausbesuch im Kontext der aufsuchenden Sozialarbeit einer psychiatrischen Institutsambulanz.

OBJECTIVE: The high rank of social work in context with psychiatric treatment of in-patients is generally accepted. The value of social work and here especially the visit at home by the social worker has hardly been examined up to now. METHOD: In the article first of all the method of visits at home is presented. Furthermore all visits at home by a female social worker of an outpatient clinic over a period of three years are retrospectively evaluated. RESULTS: In connection with 28 patients (54 +/- 14 years old) 218 visits - in total - were carried out. It is remarkable that - apart from one case - the patients were at home and the social worker was admitted to their private rooms. By far most frequently the emphasis of the visit at home was assigned to the solution of actual problems within the framework of a long-term socio-therapeutic process. CONCLUSIONS: In further discussion it will be crucial to work out indications and contraindications as well as directives for technical execution and - if necessary - to develop differential indications for different types of visits at home for different groups of patients.