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In hospital, at home, or not at all

A cross-sectional survey of patient preferences for receipt of compulsory treatment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Mike J. Crawford
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Medicine, Imperial College London, Paterson Centre, 20 South Wharf Road, London W2 1PD (tel: 0207 886 1993, fax: 0207 8861995; e-mail: m.crawford@imperial.ac.uk)
Rebecca Gibbon
Affiliation:
Imperial College London
Elizabeth Ellis
Affiliation:
Imperial College London
Hannah Waters
Affiliation:
Imperial College London
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Abstract

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Aims and Method

In view of plans to reform Mental Health Act legislation to allow compulsory treatment in the community, we examined the views of service users about this form of care, and the most acceptable setting for its delivery. A cross-sectional survey of patients discharged from two in-patient units in West London over a 5-month period was carried out.

Results

Half of the 109 respondents stated that compulsory treatment was justified under some circumstances; 103 people told us where they would prefer to receive compulsory treatment – 49 in their home, 41 in hospital and 13 in a community treatment centre. The most commonly stated reason for favouring home treatment was dislike of in-patient care.

Clinical Implications

Compulsory treatment in the community may provide a means of improving patient experiences of non-consensual care. However, a significant minority of service users would rather this form of treatment was restricted to in-patient units. Continuing efforts are required to improve patient experiences of in-patient care.

Type
Original Papers
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2004

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