Training patients with schizophrenia to share decisions with their psychiatrists: a randomized-controlled trial.

PURPOSE: Many patients with schizophrenia have a desire for shared decision-making (SDM). However, in clinical practice SDM often does not take place. One cause might be that many patients behave passively in the medical encounter, therefore not facilitating SDM. It was the aim of the study to evaluate the effects of a patient directed SDM-training on patients' communicative behavior in the consultation, their attitudes towards decision-making and their long-term adherence. METHODS: Randomized-controlled trial comparing a five-session SDM-training for inpatients with schizophrenia with five sessions of non-specific group training. The SDM-training sessions included motivational (e.g. prospects of participation, patient rights) and behavioral aspects (e.g. role plays) and addressed important aspects of the patient-doctor interaction such as question asking or giving feedback. RESULTS: N = 264 patients were recruited in four psychiatric hospitals in Germany. The SDM-training yielded no group differences regarding the main outcome measure (treatment adherence) at 6 and 12 months after discharge. However, there were short-term effects on patients' participation preferences, their wish to take over more responsibility for medical decisions and (according to their psychiatrists' estimate) their behavior in psychiatric consultations. CONCLUSIONS: While there was no effect regarding treatment adherence, the shared decision-making training for inpatients with schizophrenia has been shown to increase patients' active behavior in psychiatric consultations during their inpatient treatment. When implemented it should be combined with complementary SDM interventions (decision support tools and communication training for professionals) to yield maximum effects.

[Long-Term Tendencies in the Use of Seclusion and Restraint in Five Psychiatric Hospitals in Germany]. / Langzeittendenzen in der Anwendung von Fixierungen und Isolierungen in fünf psychiatrischen Kliniken.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate multiple efforts of the last decade to reduce the use of coercive measures in psychiatric hospitals. METHOD: A working group for the prevention of violence and coercion in psychiatric hospitals has compared several outcome indicators since the year 2000 and repeatedly has provided evidence-based recommendations for clinical practice. We present data from those 5 hospitals with complete data sets recorded by an identical method over 9 years. RESULTS: The percentage of admissions exposed to any kind of coercive measure decreased from 8.2 % in 2004 to 6.2 % in 2012. The standard deviation of outcomes between hospitals decreased by 20 %. Changes in the duration of measures were mostly insignificant. CONCLUSIONS: Measures to reduce the use of coercion are effective in clinical practice, but to less extent than in clinical studies. A ban on all forced and non-consensual medical interventions, as being stipulated by the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, has so far not materialized in the participating psychiatric institutions.