Effectiveness of STM (Structured Teaching Module) on Knowledge Regarding Home Care Management of the Patients with Chronic Mental Disorder Among Family Members in a Selected Urban Area

A mental disorder or mental illness is a psychological or behavioral pattern associated with distress or disability that occurs in an individual and is not a part of normal development or culture. The recognition and understanding of mental health conditions has changed over time and across cultures, and there are still variations in the definition, assessment, and classification of mental disorders, although standard guideline criteria are widely accepted. Currently, mental disorders are conceptualized as disorders of brain circuits likely caused by developmental processes shaped by a complex interplay of genetics and experience. In other words, the genetics of mental illness may really be the genetics of brain development, with different outcomes possible, depending on the biological and environmental context. The majority of people with schizophrenia have a pattern of illness where they relapse and then have a remission. A significant number of these people become less able to look after themselves after each relapse and their lack of self-care and poorer functioning causes them to become more disabled and isolated. One possible way of helping these people, alongside medication, is to teach them life skills, the components of which are communication and financial awareness, competence in domestic tasks and personal self-care. During the waning days of the Program on Chronic Mental Illness in 1992, a federal task force on homelessness and mental illness released a report; among the recommendations was a call for a service systems demonstration project to further test the systems integration hypothesis. The demonstration was to determine whether a small grant of resources to promote the integration of systems would result in better coordination among mental health providers and other human services providers and would promote residential stability and improved quality of life for individuals who were homeless and had a mental illness. ACCESS was designed with the Program on Chronic Mental Illness in mind. Chronic mental illness has been a social welfare policy issue in the United States for almost two centuries. Characterized by a series of reform movements, mental health policy has been focused on a variety of organizational solutions to the problems of individuals with severe mental illness. Material & Methods: A pre-experimental study with pre-test and post-test design was undertaken to find out Effectiveness of STM (Structured teaching module) on knowledge regarding home care management of the patients with Chronic Mental Disorder among family members. The data was collected from 50 family members of patients with Chronic Mental Disorder through purposive sampling technique using structured interview schedule with close-ended questionnaires. Results: The data revealed that, the total mean knowledge score of the family members during pre-test was 13.96±4.27 which is 39.89% of the total score revealing poor knowledge. The total mean knowledge score of the family members during post-test was 25.54±4.73 which is 72.97% of the total score revealing good knowledge.STM was highly effective for the family members in the age group of 31-40 years, which consist of majority of sample. There was highly significant difference found between the pre and post-test knowledge score. And no significant association between knowledge score of family members in post-test when compared to the demographic variables of family members except type of family which shows significant relationship and educational qualification which shows highly significant relationship. Conclusion: After the detailed analysis of this study shows that effective use of STM help in providing pertinent information regarding home care management of the patients with Chronic Mental Disorder was effective to improve the family member’s knowledge.