Introduction: Modern approach to dealing with mental disorders is supposed to represent the balance between interlinked hospital and community services. The community mental care program cannot replace any existing program, but in the long run, it can decrease the burden of psychiatric hospitals and the number of urgent admissions in psychiatric outpatient clinics. Purpose: The purpose of this diploma work is to explore existing forms of community mental health care and present their influence on health of patients with mental disorders, to determine the advantages for patients with mental disorders, to establish the prevalence of community mental health care, and to determine the role of registered nurses here. Methods: We have used a descriptive method with a systematic review of literature. The selected articles were published between December 2017 and April 2018. Only literature in Slovenian and English language was included. We searched for articles in databases ScienceDirect, MEDLINE, Scopus and CINAHL, which were accessed using the remote access of the Digital library of the University of Ljubljana. We selected only articles focused on community mental helth care that were available free of charge. The final material for analysis included 7 units of literature. Results: Community care has proven to be beneficial and useful in shortening hospitalization times and reducing numbers of patients admitted to hospitals. Relief of family members of patients with mental disorders and improvement of the patients’ symptoms are two additional benefits of community mental health care that should not be overlooked. An important contribution of community mental health care is also a continuous treatment of the user. Discussion and conclusion: Today community mental health care is considered a topic of high importance, although it is still in its early stages of development and research. There is currently a lack of research and literature in the field of community care in Slovenia, and further research is crucial for development and introduction of new methods of care for patients with mental health disorders.
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