Current status of medical collaboration for persons with mental disabilities who use type-B continuous...

This study aimed to clarify the current status of collaboration between type-B continuous employment-support facilities and psychiatric care in Japan and determine the intention of these facilities toward medical collaboration.

A self-administered anonymous questionnaire survey was conducted by mail. Basic descriptive statistics were calculated for the questions with multiple-choice responses. For the free descriptions of medical collaborations, we grouped sentences with similar meanings and generated categories.

Of type-B employment continuation support offices, 76% collaborated with psychiatrists. However, only 6% incurred an additional fee for the medical collaboration system. They attempted to collaborate with medical care by contacting doctors and nurses and accompanying them during medical examinations. Some respondents stated that they did not need to collaborate with medical care. Type-B facilities often require support from doctors and nurses regarding support for psychiatric symptoms, guidance on medication, and other problems related to illnesses and treatment. Other opinions suggested that persons with mental disabilities should solve their problems themselves without intervention by doctors or nurses and that the support they want is absent. Among type-B continuous employment-support facilities that do not hire nurses, 25% would be unable to hire them, although desired, because of financial difficulties or other reasons, and 72% did not consider doing so.

Among the type-B continuous employment-support facilities, 76% collaborated with the psychiatric department. Some respondents indicated that medical collaboration was "Not required". Among the types of support expected from doctors and nurses, those related to illness and treatment were the most commonly requested. But opinions emerged, including "No support is sought". Many type-B continuous employment-support facilities that do not employ nurses, do not consider hiring nurses, and the most common reason is "Economically difficult to hire".