Modelizing home safety as experienced by people with mental illness

As more individuals with mental disorders now live in the community and as the custodial care housing model has shifted to supported housing, home safety has become a rising issue, however, not well documented.

To describe the phenomenon of home safety for people with a mental disorder as well as its contributing factors.

A descriptive qualitative design was used. Individual interviews were conducted with persons with a mental disorder (n = 8), while focus groups were conducted with relatives, health and social service providers and community stakeholders (n = 21). The data were analyzed with the grounded theory analysis as described by Paillé (1994).

Findings suggest that home safety implies risk and protective factors, which are associated with (1) the person's characteristics; (2) the quality of the home environment; (3) the nature of the activities in which the individual engages. These dimensions are interrelated so that home incidents arise from a dynamic interaction between risk and protective factors.

Home incidents therefore occur when the interaction between these dimensions is altered. Considering this situation, Occupational Therapists are well positioned to play a leading role and act as key contributors in the area of home safety in people with mental disorders.