Transition of Mental Health Services from Institutional to Community-Based Care Abroad and Its Context for Slovenia—Advantages and Risks

Katja Horvat Golob (), Alenka Temeljotov Salaj and Brigita Novak Šarotar
Additional contact information
Katja Horvat Golob: University Psychiatric Clinic Ljubljana, Chengdujska 45, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Alenka Temeljotov Salaj: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NO-7491 Trondheim, Norway
Brigita Novak Šarotar: University Psychiatric Clinic Ljubljana, Chengdujska 45, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

IJERPH, 2025, vol. 22, issue 7, 1-31

Abstract: Deinstitutionalization is a transition from psychiatric hospitals and other mental health institutions as the primary setting for treatment of individuals with chronic mental health disorders to a range of services, including psychiatric care, that support independent functioning of an individual within the community. The transition has been encouraged by guidelines from the European Expert Group and further specified in the Slovenian Resolution on the National Programme of Mental Health 2018–2028. This integrated systematic and narrative literature review includes 47 international articles from PubMed, along with information on Slovenian mental health legislation and its implementation, to provide insights into deinstitutionalization abroad and its relevance for Slovenia. Although the transition to community-based care is welcomed for promoting independence and respecting individuals’ wants, there are cases where institutional care remains necessary to ensure safety and treatment during the exacerbation of chronic mental health disorders. The quality of care and outcomes generally improve with community-based care. However, the closure of institutions can lead to many unintended consequences, such as the revolving door phenomenon and transinstitutionalization. Both the advantages of community-based care and the important roles of mental health hospitals and other institutions are emphasized.

Keywords: community-based care; deinstitutionalization; destigmatization; mental health; public health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/22/7/1066/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/22/7/1066/ (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:jijerp:v:22:y:2025:i:7:p:1066-:d:1694102

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

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