Evaluation of Everyday Living Areas for Deinstitutionalized Community-Living People with Mental Illness

Yuri Nakai and Hisao Nakai ()
Additional contact information
Yuri Nakai: Faculty of Nursing, University of Kochi, 2751-1 Ike, Kochi 781-8515, Japan
Hisao Nakai: Faculty of Nursing, University of Kochi, 2751-1 Ike, Kochi 781-8515, Japan

Challenges, 2023, vol. 14, issue 3, 1-12

Abstract: Deinstitutionalization of psychiatric care has been associated with increased homelessness, crime, and suicide, partly owing to insufficient, adequate, and accessible community resources. Therefore, appropriate resource placement is a key deinstitutionalization issue. The study’s aim was to identify residential group homes for people with mental illness in Kochi Prefecture, Japan, and the social resources necessary for social reintegration using a geographic information system (GIS). Everyday living areas (ELAs), as defined by the Japanese Community-Based Integrated Care System for People with Mental Illness (CICSM), were assessed using ELA location simulations. We used GIS to determine the spatial distribution of group homes, visiting nursing stations, psychiatric hospitals, daycare centers, and employment support offices. Following the CICSM definition of ELAs, we identified areas that people with mental illness could reach within 30 min on foot/by bicycle and counted the number of social resources in them. The ELA location simulation results suggest that policymakers should avoid uniform distribution of ELAs according to the CICSM definition. Establishing ELAs in suburban areas requires careful consideration of the available community resources, number of people with mental illness, existing support systems, and feasibility of the location.

Keywords: mental illness; community-based integrated care system for people with mental illness; everyday living area; group home; GIS (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A00 C00 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2078-1547/14/3/30/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2078-1547/14/3/30/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jchals:v:14:y:2023:i:3:p:30-:d:1179427

Access Statistics for this article

Challenges is currently edited by Ms. Karen Sun

More articles in Challenges from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().