Use of compulsory community treatment in mental healthcare: An integrative review of stakeholders' opinions.

Background: Multiple studies have examined the effects of compulsory community treatment (CCT), amongst them there were three randomized controlled trials (RCT). Overall, they do not find that CCT affects clinical outcomes or reduces the number or duration of hospital admissions more than voluntary care does. Despite these negative findings, in many countries CCT is still used. One of the reasons may be that stakeholders favor a mental health system including CCT. Aim: This integrative review investigated the opinions of stakeholders (patients, significant others, mental health workers, and policy makers) about the use of CCT. Methods: We performed an integrative review; to include all qualitative and quantitative manuscripts on the views of patients, significant others, clinicians and policy makers regarding the use of CCT, we searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, Web of Science Core Collection, Cochrane CENTRAL Register of Controlled Trials (via Wiley), and Google Scholar. Results: We found 142 studies investigating the opinion of stakeholders (patients, significant others, and mental health workers) of which 55 were included. Of these 55 studies, 29 included opinions of patients, 14 included significant others, and 31 included mental health care workers. We found no studies that included policy makers. The majority in two of the three stakeholder groups (relatives and mental health workers) seemed to support a system that used CCT. Patients were more hesitant, but they generally preferred CCT over admission. All stakeholder groups expressed ambivalence. Their opinions did not differ clearly between those who did and did not have experience with CCT. Advantages mentioned most regarded accessibility of care and a way to remain in contact with patients, especially during times of crisis or deterioration. The most mentioned disadvantage by all stakeholder groups was that CCT restricted autonomy and was coercive. Other disadvantages mentioned were that CCT was stigmatizing and that it focused too much on medication. Conclusion: Stakeholders had mixed opinions regarding CCT. While a majority seemed to support the use of CCT, they also had concerns, especially regarding the restrictions CCT imposed on patients' freedom and autonomy, stigmatization, and the focus on medication.

Aggressive behaviour of psychiatric patients with mild and borderline intellectual disabilities in general mental health care.

PURPOSE: Little is known about the associations between mild intellectual disability (MID), borderline intellectual functioning (BIF) and aggressive behaviour in general mental health care. The study aims to establish the association between aggressive behaviour and MID/BIF, analysing patient characteristics and diagnoses. METHOD: 1174 out of 1565 consecutive in-and outpatients were screened for MID/BIF with the Screener for Intelligence and Learning Disabilities (SCIL) in general mental health care in The Netherlands. During treatment, aggressive behaviour was assessed with the Staff Observation Aggression Scale-Revised (SOAS-R). We calculated odds ratios and performed a logistic and poisson regression to calculate the associations of MID/ BIF, patient characteristics and diagnoses with the probability of aggression. RESULTS: Forty-one percent of participating patients were screened positive for MID/BIF. Patients with assumed MID/BIF showed significantly more aggression at the patient and sample level (odds ratio (OR) of 2.50 for aggression and 2.52 for engaging in outwardly directed physical aggression). The proportion of patients engaging in 2-5 repeated aggression incidents was higher in assumed MID (OR = 3.01, 95% CI 1.82-4.95) and MID/BIF (OR = 4.20, 95% CI 2.45-7.22). Logistic regression showed that patients who screened positive for BIF (OR 2,0 95% CL 1.26-3.17), MID (OR 2.89, 95% CI 1.87-4.46), had a bipolar disorder (OR 3.07, 95% CI 1.79-5.28), schizophrenia (OR 2.75, 95% CI 1.80-4.19), and younger age (OR 1.69, 95% CI 1.15-2.50), were more likely to have engaged in any aggression. Poisson regression underlined these findings, showing a SCIL of 15 and below (ß = 0.61, p<0.001) was related to more incidents. CONCLUSIONS: We found an increased risk for aggression and physical aggression in patients with assumed MID/BIF. We recommend screening for intellectual functioning at the start of treatment and using measures to prevent and manage aggressive behaviour that fits patients with MID/BIF.

Referral for Intensive Home Treatment or Psychiatric Inpatient Care? A Retrospective, Observational Comparison of Patient and Process Characteristics.

Introduction: Intensive home treatment (IHT) is intended to prevent the (mostly voluntary) admission of mentally ill patients by providing intensive care in their domestic environment. It requires approaches to referral that ensure the delivery of the best possible acute care. Indications for referral may be improved by greater understanding of the clinical profiles of patients referred for IHT and of those referred for inpatient care. As such understanding may also further the development of IHT and innovations within it, we compared the patient and process characteristics associated with IHT referral for those associated with inpatient care. Methods: This retrospective, observational, explorative study was conducted from 2016 to 2019. Patients aged 18 years and older were assessed by the emergency psychiatric outreach services in the greater Rotterdam area (Netherlands). Anonymized data were used to compare patient and process characteristics between patients referred for IHT and those admitted voluntarily. Patient characteristics included gender, age, cultural background, living situation and main diagnosis. Additional the case mix was measured using the Severity of Psychiatric Illness (SPI) scale. Process characteristics included psychiatric history, the total number of contacts with the emergency psychiatric outreach services, assessments during office hours, place of assessment, referrer, and the reason for referral. Using multiple logistic regression analysis, the patient and process characteristics associated with IHT referral were compared with those associated with voluntary admission. Results: The emergency psychiatric outreach services undertook 12,470 assessments: 655 were referred for HT and 2,875 for voluntary admission. Patient characteristics: referral for IHT rather than voluntary admission was associated with higher motivation for treatment and better family involvement. Process characteristics: referral for IHT rather than voluntary admission was associated with assessment by the crisis services within office hours, no mental health treatment at the time of referral, and referral by a family doctor. Discussion: IHT in a specific Dutch setting seems to function as an intensive crisis intervention for a subgroup of patients who are motivated for treatment, have social support, and are not in outpatient treatment. The patient and process characteristics of patients referred for IHT should now be studied in more detail, especially, for having more social support, the role of the family members involved.

Facilitating and hindering factors of personal recovery in the context of Soteria-A qualitative study among people with (early episode) psychosis.

Objective: The objective of this study was to gain insight into patients' experiences of how personal recovery (PR) is facilitated or hindered in the context of an early episode psychosis setting (Soteria). We thereby aimed to contribute to the understanding of how care settings may promote or hinder the process of PR in people with (acute) psychosis. Method: This study used a qualitative method, consisting of semi-structured in-depth interviews with people who had been admitted to a Soteria house in the Netherlands. Interview transcripts were analyzed following the Grounded Theory approach. Results: Five themes emerged from the data illustrating how Soteria facilitated or impeded PR. The experience of togetherness in contact with staff and peers, feeling at home, and being active facilitated PR, while the emphasis put on medication by staff was experienced as hindering, and attention to spirituality was missed. Conclusion: In addition to the literature that identified factors associated with PR in psychosis, the current study gives a sense of how this can be put into practice. By offering treatment within a normalizing, holding environment, with emphasis on equality, close contact, optimism, active structured days, open-mindedness toward spirituality, and the role of medication, PR can be facilitated without detracting from guideline-based treatment aimed at symptomatic recovery. Similarities with existing concepts are discussed.

"Caring for a Crisis": Care and Control in Community Mental Health.

In the debate on coercion in psychiatry, care and control are often juxtaposed. In this article we argue that this dichotomy is not useful to describe the more complex ways service users, care professionals and the specific care setting interrelate in a community mental health team (CMHT). Using the ethnographic approach of empirical ethics, we contrast the ways in which control and care go together in situations of a psychiatric crisis in two CMHT's: one in Trieste (Italy) and one in Utrecht (the Netherlands). The Dutch and Italian CMHT's are interesting to compare, because they differ with regard to the way community care is organized, the amount of coercive measures, the number of psychiatric beds, and the fact that Trieste applies an open door policy in all care settings. Contrasting the two teams can teach us how in situations of psychiatric crisis control and care interrelate in different choreographies. We use the term choreography as a metaphor to encapsulate the idea of a crisis situation as a set of coordinated actions from different actors in time and space. This provides two choreographies of handling a crisis in different ways. We argue that applying a strict boundary between care and control hinders the use of the relationship between caregiver and patient in care.

Not recognized enough: The effects and associations of trauma and intellectual disability in severely mentally ill outpatients.

BACKGROUND: Little is known about the association between trauma and intellectual disability in SMI patients. AIM: To establish the prevalence of trauma and its association with intellectual functioning in SMI outpatients. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in two mental health trusts in the Netherlands. We used the Trauma Screening Questionnaire (TSQ) to screen for trauma and PTSD, and the Screener for Intelligence and Learning disabilities (SCIL) for suspected MID/BIF. Chi-square and t-tests were used to test differences in outcome over patient characteristics. Post-hoc analysis was used to investigate gender differences between patients with and without MID/BIF on trauma and sexual trauma. RESULTS: Any trauma was found in 86% of 570 patients and 42% were suspected for PTSD. The SCIL suggested that 40% had Borderline Intellectual Functioning (BIF), half of whom were suspected of having Mild Intellectual Disability (MID). These patients had more traumatic experiences (1.89 in BIF, 1.75 in MID, against 1.41 in SCIL-negative patients). Female MID/BIF patients (61%) had experienced significantly more sexual abuse than male MID/BIF patients (23%). CONCLUSIONS: Significantly more SMI outpatients who screened positive for MID/BIF reported having experienced traumatic events than those who screened negative. Rates of all trauma categories were significantly higher in the screen-positive group, who were also more likely to have PTSD. Sexual abuse occurred more in all females but the SCIL positive women are even more often victim. Clinical practice has to pay more attention to all of these issues, especially when they occur together in a single patient.

Functional recovery of individuals with serious mental illnesses: Development and testing of a new short instrument for routine outcome monitoring.

OBJECTIVE: This article describes the development and testing of the Functional Recovery tool (FR tool), a short instrument for assessing functional recovery during routine outcome monitoring of people living with serious mental illnesses. METHODS: To assess functional recovery, mental health professionals conducted semistructured interviews with people living with serious mental illnesses on three areas of social functioning: daily living and self-care, work and study, and social contacts. Functioning in each of these areas over the past 6 months was rated on a 3-point scale: 0 (independent), 1 (partially independent), and 2 (dependent). The dichotomous overall outcome of the tool is defined as independent functioning in all areas. We analyzed interrater and test-retest reliability, sensitivity to change, and correlations with constructs that are assumed to be similar to the FR tool (quality of life in daily living, work, and social contacts) or divergent from it (symptomatic functioning). RESULTS: The FR tool was administered to 840 individuals with serious mental illnesses in Dutch mental health care services, 523 of whom were followed up for 1 year (response rate 62%). The tool was easy to complete and was appropriate for policy evaluation and practice. However, when it was combined with more elaborate instruments, it added little extra clinical information. Interrater and test-retest reliability, convergent and discriminant validity, and sensitivity to change were rated sufficient to good. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: The FR tool could be a useful measure of functional recovery in addition to current measures of symptomatic remission and personal recovery in routine outcome monitoring. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

A Blind Spot? Screening for Mild Intellectual Disability and Borderline Intellectual Functioning in Admitted Psychiatric Patients: Prevalence and Associations with Coercive Measures.

BACKGROUND: Failure to detect psychiatric patients' intellectual disabilities may lead to inappropriate treatment and greater use of coercive measures. AIMS: In this prospective dynamic cohort study we screened for intellectual disabilities in patients admitted to psychiatric wards, and investigated the use of coercive measures with these patients. METHODS: We used the Screener for Intelligence and Learning disabilities (SCIL) to screen patients admitted to two acute psychiatric wards, and assessed patient characteristics and coercive measures during their stay and over the last 5 years. RESULTS: Results on the SCIL suggested that 43.8% of the sample had Mild Intellectual Disability or Borderline Intellectual Functioning (MID/BIF). During their current stay and earlier stays in the previous 5 years, these patients had an increased risk of involuntary admission (OR 2.71; SD 1.28-5.70) and coercive measures (OR 3.95, SD 1.47-10.54). CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that functioning on the level of MID/BIF is very prevalent in admitted psychiatric patients and requires specific attention from mental health care staff.

Monitoring mental healthcare on a system level: Country profiles and status from EU countries.

AIMS: Routinely collected data can be used to monitor the performance and improve the quality of mental healthcare systems. Data-based and system-level Quality Monitoring Programmes in Mental Health Care (QMP-MHC) are increasingly being implemented in EU countries. They are believed to be indispensable for the sustainable improvement of the quality of mental healthcare. However, there is a paucity of comparative research on national strategies in quality monitoring. This study explores the status of system-level Quality Monitoring Programmes in Mental Health Care (QMP-MHC) in EU countries. It aims to provide a descriptive overview, which is intended to be the first step for comparative research in this field. METHODS: Case studies of system-level QMP-MHCs were gathered from eight EU countries. Experts from each country were asked to describe their approach using a template. These experts were all members of a Europe-wide network of researchers and members of public institutions involved in quality assessment and performance monitoring of mental healthcare. RESULTS: Country profiles were gathered from England, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Sweden. All these countries have - or are in the process of implementing - system-level QMP-MHCs. Implementation seems to be facilitated when a national performance monitoring programme for general healthcare is already in place, although in the Netherlands, a QMP-MHC was established without being attached to a general monitoring programme. All the monitoring programmes described use various quality and performance indicators; some systems enhance this methodology with the addition of qualitative assessment methods such as peer reviews linked to accreditation processes. CONCLUSIONS: Research is needed to better understand the historical, political and technical backgrounds of the different national cases and to explore the effectiveness of different improvement mechanisms on the actual quality of healthcare. Policy makers and those designing performance measurement programmes are recommended to look across the borders of their own healthcare systems as there are many ways to assess performance and many ways to feedback results to service providers. No evidence is available whether one of these methods is superior to the others in improving the quality of mental healthcare.