Revisiting treatment in the home

In the past few years, the notion of home treatment has found new currency. This article reviews psychiatric nursing's roles and interest in this subject. Based on articles written more than 30 years ago, the issue of home treatment is examined from the standpoint of psychiatric nursing's particular talents for this modality and the "fit" of home treatment to the education of nurses. The advantages of home treatment are discussed, as are the purposes for choosing this intervention. Studies of home visiting by nursing researchers in other specialty areas are briefly summarized. Cost-effectiveness has been shown in all this work, but in most cases this transitional care has not been built into payment structures. The author continues to believe that treatment in the home is a natural and useful adjunct to psychiatric nursing, but its use will depend on the reimbursement system and, even more importantly, on the interest of psychiatric nurses in this modality of treatment.