The new neighbor: experiences of living next door to people suffering from long-term mental illness.

The transition from hospital to community care for people with long-term mental illness is of growing concern. The aim of the present study was to illuminate if and how people with long-term mental illness have affected their neighbourhood after re-establishing themselves in apartments of their own. Nineteen neighbours of group homes for people with long-term mental illness, in seven different communities in eastern Norway, have been interviewed. The grounded theory procedures as well as the constant comparative method were employed to analyse the findings. From the data, one main category was identified: the need for information.