Home Treatment in der Kinder-und Jugendpsychiatrie in Niederösterreich: Eine qualitative Studie

With the global rise of psychiatric disorders, Home Treatments (HTs) are gaining more popularity in psychiatric care. The present study follows a thematic analysis approach to analyse data collected from interviews with eight experts involved in HTs at the Child and Adolescents Psychiatry of the University Clinic Tulln, Lower Austria. The object was to obtain their experiences and views on HTs,
with special focus on evaluation. An iterative framework analysis was used to identify main themes and subthemes. The interviews yielded 88 codes with four main themes: important aspects, requirements, evaluation, and possible improvements. HTs provide a low-threshold and individually tailored treatment and care option for young patients with psychiatric disorders and high involvement of patients´ social environment, fostering a deeper understanding and closer relationship-building with health professionals. Requirements include the desire for change, realistic goalsetting, and compliance of patients. During the evaluation, a variety of outcome variables can be considered, including assessments from different evaluators and the patient’s social environment. Future research should focus on the evaluation of HTs to further promote and expand their use and offerings.