Home visits: psychiatrists' attitudes and practice patterns.

Although home visits by psychiatrists have been shown to be an effective treatment strategy, the practice is not a common one in the United States. A survey of psychiatrists (n = 212) examined their attitudes toward home visits and their recent practice patterns. The researchers hypothesized that psychiatrists employed by community mental health centers were more likely to have a positive attitude toward home visits and were more likely to treat patients in their own homes than psychiatrists not working at such centers. This hypothesis was not confirmed. While a majority of the respondents agreed that home visits had diagnostic and treatment value, only 15 percent had made a home visit in the past year.