The Effects of an Integrated Health Care Program on the Physical, Psychosocial, and Spiritual Health of People with Mental Disorder in Community

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: This study was conducted in order to investigate changes in the physical, psychosocial and spiritual health of people with mental disorder in community participating in the Integrated Health Care Program (IHCP). METHODS: This study applied the non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design. The participants were 37 chronic psychiatric patients who had been clinically diagnosed with mental disorder and visiting a mental rehabilitation center located in S City (17 in the experimental group, and 20 in the control group). The experimental group participated in the IHCP consisting of 24 sessions for eight weeks. RESULTS: After the intervention, only the participants in the experimental group reported significant improvement in physical (body mass, triglyceride), psychosocial (mental symptoms, depression, self-esteem, ability of problem solving), and spiritual wellbeing when compared with those in the control group. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that IHCP is effective in improving the physical, psychosocial, and spiritual wellbeing of people with mental disorder. Therefore, IHCP developed in this study is considered a useful nursing intervention for raising the comprehensive health level of people with mental disorder in community.