Do Integrated Community Psychiatry Services in Primary Health Care Settings Improve Continuity of Care? A Mixed-methods Study of Health Care Users' Experiences in South Africa.

ABSTRACT:

Background

A community psychiatry service is provided from selected primary health care (PHC) clinics in Gauteng, South Africa. This study described the demographic and clinical characteristics of health care users (HCUs), and explored HCUs' experiences of these services in order to shed light on the challenges of integrating psychiatric services into PHC.

Methods

A mixed-methods study was conducted at two PHC clinics, where 384 clinical records were reviewed and 23 HCUs were interviewed. In Clinic-1, community psychiatry services were co-located, while in Clinic-2, these services were physically integrated into the PHC clinic.

Results

HCUs from both clinics were generally female (55%), had not completed secondary level education (65%), and were unemployed (80%). Both

SUBMITTER: Abdulla S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11259117 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jul-Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature