Family caregivers satisfaction with home care for mental illness after the implementation of national health insurance in Taiwan.

The purposes of this study were to assess the level of family caregivers' satisfaction with home care for mental illness since the implementation of National Health Insurance (NHI) in Taiwan, investigate the factors that affect satisfaction, and identify the family's needs. Seventy-five family caregivers served in the military psychiatric hospital in Taipei were surveyed by completing three self-administrated questionnaires and one interview. The great majority of caregivers expressed a high satisfaction level. Caregiver's age, income, support from family, the amount of time spent in caregiving, feelings about having a mentally ill family, the number of services received, and the acceptance of home care if again needed were significantly associated with satisfaction. More than 41% of caregivers needed to be able to more easily contact home care workers by telephone and get quickly needed services in an emergency. However, the implementation of NHI has improved caregivers' perceptions of costs of services.