Compulsory and voluntary admissions in comparison: A 9-year long observational study

The long-term adherence following the end of Community Treatment Order: A systematic review

BACKGROUND

The community treatment order (CTO) is designed to deliver mental healthcare in the community and has been introduced in around 75 jurisdictions worldwide. It constitutes a legal obligation in which individuals with severe mental illness must adhere to out-of-hospital treatment plans. Despite intense criticism and the debated nature of published evidence, it has emerged as a clinical and policy response to frequent hospital readmissions and to enhance adherence in cases where there is refusal of pharmacological treatments. This systematic review outlines findings on CTO long-term adherence, after mandatory outpatient treatment has ended, in studies that include people with psychiatric disorders.

METHOD

Following PRISMA guidelines, we performed a review of published articles from PubMed, PsycINFO, EMBASE, and CINAHL up to January 15, 2023. We included studies that assessed adherence after CTO ends. The study is registered with PROSPERO number CRD42022360879.

RESULTS

Six independent studies analyzing the main indicators of long adherence: engagement with services and medication adherence, were included. The average methodological quality of the studies included is fair. Long-term adherence was assessed over a period ranging from 11 to 28 months. Only two studies reported a statistically significant improvement. Regarding the remaining studies, no positive correlation was observed, except for certain subgroup samples, while in one study, medication adherence decreased.

CONCLUSION

Scientific evidence supporting the hypothesis that CTO has a positive role on long-term adherence post-obligation is currently not sufficient. Given the importance of modern recovery-oriented approaches and the coercive nature of compulsory outpatient treatment, it is necessary that future studies ensure the role of CTO in effectively promoting adherence.

Increasing person-centeredness in psychosis inpatient care: care consumption before and after a person-centered care intervention

BACKGROUND

Patients with psychotic disorders often need hospitalization with long stays. Person-centered care (PCC) has been shown to improve care quality and decrease the length of hospital stay in non-psychiatric settings. We carried out an educational intervention for inpatient staff, aiming to increase person-centeredness at a major Swedish psychosis clinic. The aim of this study was to test if the intervention could be associated with decreased length of hospital stay (LoS), involuntary stay (LoIS), and reduction in rapid readmissions.

METHODS

Data from the clinic's administrative registry were compared for patients with a discharge diagnosis within the schizophrenia-spectrum treated during the one-year periods before and after the PCC intervention.

RESULTS

Contrary to our hypotheses, a quantile regression estimated longer LoS post-intervention, median difference 10.4 d (CI 4.73-16.10). Neither age, sex nor diagnostic category were associated with LoS. Of all inpatient days, ∼80% were involuntary. While LoIS was numerically longer post-intervention, the difference did not reach significance in the final regression model (median difference 7.95 d, CI -1.40 to 17.31). Proportions with readmission within 2 weeks of discharge did not differ (7.7% vs 5.2%, n.s.).

CONCLUSIONS

Increased length of inpatient care was observed after the PCPC intervention. This could reflect an increased focus on the unmet needs of persons with serious psychotic conditions, but it needs to be explored in future research using a more rigorous study design.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

This study is part of a larger evaluation of Person-Centered Psychosis Care (PCPC), registered during data collection (after the study start, before analysis) at clinicaltrials.gov, identifier NCT03182283.

Risk factors of involuntary referral by police to ER psychiatric services for patients with a severe mental illness: A GEE analysis

This study aimed to identify risk factors for involuntary referral by police to emergency room (ER) psychiatric services for community-based patients with a mental illness via a generalized estimating equation (GEE) analysis. The analysis was based on data from the Management Information System of Psychiatric Care (MISPC) system for patients with a severe mental illness in Taipei, Taiwan and registered referral records of the police. Data on 6378 patients aged ≥20 years were used in this study, including 164 patients who were involuntarily referred to the ER by the police and 6214 patients who were not during the period of January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2020. GEEs were utilized to explore possible risk factors of repeated involuntary referral to ER psychiatric services for patients with a severe mental illness. The logistic regressions indicated that patients defined as "severe" according to the Mental Health Act of Taiwan (crude odds ratio (OR): 3.840, 95 % confidence interval (CI): 2.407-6.126), with a disability (crude OR: 3.567, 95 % CI: 1.339-9.501), with two or more family members with a psychiatric disorder (crude OR: 1.598, 95 % CI: 1.002-2.548), with a history of a suicide attempt (crude OR: 25.582, 95 % CI: 17.608-37.167), and with a history of domestic violence (crude OR: 16.141, 95 % CI: 11.539-22.579) were positively associated with involuntary referral to ER psychiatric services. However, age (crude OR: 0.971, 95 % CI: 0.960-0.983) and the MISPC score (crude OR: 0.834, 95 % CI: 0.800-0.869) were inversely associated with involuntary referral to ER psychiatric services. After adjusting for demographics and potential confounders, we found that patients defined as "severe" (Exp (β): 3.236), with a disability (Exp (β): 3.715), with a history of a suicide attempt (Exp (β): 8.706), and with a history of domestic violence (Exp (β): 8.826), as well as age (Exp (β): 0.986) and the MISPC score (Exp (β): 0.902) remained significantly associated with repeated involuntary referral to ER psychiatric services. In conclusion, community-based mentally ill patients with a history of a suicide attempt, with a history of domestic violence, with a severe illness, and with a profound level of disability were highly associated with involuntary referral to ER psychiatric services. We suggest that community mental health case managers identify significant factors associated with involuntary referral to ER psychiatric services to accordingly arrange case management plans.

Status and clinical influencing factors of involuntary admission in chinese patients with schizophrenia

BACKGROUND

Though controversial for its various disadvantages, involuntary admission (IA) is necessary in providing mental health care for patients suffering from schizophrenia in China. This article examines the IA rate in a representative sample, and under which circumstances are these patients more likely to be admitted involuntarily.

METHODS

Adult patients consecutively admitted to two typical hospitals in Shanghai between 2013 and 2014 with a diagnosis of ICD-10 schizophrenia were included. 2167 patients were included in this study. Sociodemographic and clinical data, as well as personal information of psychiatrists who made risk assessment, were collected. The whole sample was divided into voluntary and involuntary admission groups. Group comparisons were performed with SPSS 17.0, using one-way ANOVA, Wilcoxon rank sum test, Chi-squares and Logistic regression.

RESULTS

Among 2167 inpatients, the majority (2003, 92.4%) were involuntarily admitted. Clinical features, including age of patients (p < 0.001, OR = 1.037), lacking of insight (p < 0.001, OR = 3.691), were statistically significant for IA. Psychiatrist's age (p < 0.001, OR = 1.042) was independently associated with IA. However, risk behaviors had dramatically affected patients' admission status, of which the strongest predictor of IA was noncompliance with treatment (p < 0.001, OR = 3.597). The areas under the curve of the ROC and accuracy for the regression model were 0.815 and 0.927, respectively.

CONCLUSION

IA patients account for a major proportion of all those hospitalized with schizophrenia in China. Insights and risk behaviors contributed the most reasons for admission status of patients. This research shed light on necessity of further qualitative studies learning detailed evaluation processes of IA and high-quality interventional studies aiming to limit the performance of IA among patients with schizophrenia.