A quali-quantitative study on the definition of types of non-hospital residential facilities for psychiatric patients

The de-institutionalisation of psychiatric patients has led to the construction of various forms of residential facilities for people with mental illness in the community. This study had two aims: to identify the types of residential facilities for psychiatric patients and to determine whether there are differences between patients who live in different types of these. A mixed method approach was used. Interviews with the managers of 13 residential facilities were carried out. Quantitative data about the environmental characteristics, human resources, and characteristics of patients recovered of each residential facility were collected. We identified 8 types of facilities. The characteristics of the psychiatric patients of each residential facility were significantly different from those of the patients of the others. The classification of residential facilities for psychiatric patients is useful for describing different approaches to care that are used in community interventions and the identify the specificity of each approaches.