Case Study: Health Workers’ Perspective on Treatment of People with Post-Pasung Mental Disorder

Pasung is a physical restraint or confinement carried out by communities to people with mental disorders. The treatment of patients post-pasung in the treatment room is important to be investigated. The purpose of the research is to describe the health workers’ perspective on treatment of people with post-pasung mental disorders. The research used qualitative design with multiple instrumental case study approach. The research was conducted at a mental hospital in West Java, Indonesia. Two cases of people with post-pasung mental disorder are highlighted. Data were collected from 11 health workers who care for the patients in the cases via in-depth interviews and selected by purposive sampling. A thematic analysis was performed. The results showed five themes, including negative symptoms of schizophrenia appeared dominant; social interaction exercise should be given more; subjective workload of health workers; treatment constraint; and expectation from the health workers to improve strategy of care. The finding highlights that the strategy of care for people with mental disorder post-pasung still needs to be improved.