Home button is faulty, then you will have to replace the circuit strip for the row of buttons. It is one of the easiest fixes (7 screws) and the part is available in loads of places including eBay.
Hmmm....are you sure it's a hardware problem? Coz' i won't be able to buy anything from ebay and m a little scared about splitting my PSP open. Will my not fixing the home key create problems in the future? Are there any easier ways of fixing this like pulling out the home key from the front and taking a peek inside?
No it will not get worse, pulling out the button will not really help, there is a thin circuit board underneath with tiny buttons on, these fail after a while, if you have a phat then it is a very easy repair, a slim and the connector is under the screen so a little more difficult.
If you pull out the home button you will break the front face of the PSP as the bottom of the button is bigger than the top.
So i'm guessing turning off the PSP while in a game or program doesn't affect it. Thats good.
I own a slim. Should take it to sony to get it repaired or try doing this thing myself? Apart from buying that circuit board from ebay, are there other ways to procure one?
Dealextreme and a variety of other console repair shops, it is the home / start button circuit that you need, there are loads of good repair guides but the most important thing is to get a good quality "0" point cross head screwdriver