Abstract: Objective To explore the effect of home care on schizophrenia in rural area in Beijing. Methods A comparative study has been done between 36 patients in home care and 36 patients in hospital. All of the patients were tested with Positive and Negative Symptoms Scale (PANSS) before, 4 and 8 weeks after treatment and Social Disability Screening Scale (SDSS) at 6 months after treatment. Results The PANSS scores of two groups decreased significantly after the treatment (P<0.01). There was no significant difference in the effective rates between the home care group (69.4%) and the hospital group (66.7%). The SDSS scores of the home care group was significantly lower than the hospital group (P<0.01). Conclusion Home care provides an efficient approach to treat schizophrenia in rural community, and it can improve the social function of the patients.

Key words: home care, schizophrenia, social function