Implementation of the European Psychiatric Association (EPA) guidance on forensic psychiatry in Poland. Current state and required measures. / Implementacja wytycznych Europejskiego Towarzystwa Psychiatrycznego (EPA) w zakresie psychiatrii sadowej w Polsce. Stan obecny i konieczne dzialania.

The article discusses the key aspects of the guidance of the European Psychiatric Association (EPA) on forensic psychiatry and the required actions to implement guidance into clinical practice. The authors pay attention to the discrepancies between the recommendations resulting from the guidance and clinical practice and current systemic solutions. The basic difficulties were discussed in relation to the implementation of the guidelines in the clinical practice in Poland as regards providing services as an expert by psychiatrists and psychologists, risk assessment and management, psychiatric therapy in detention centers, implementation of protection measures in inpatient and outpatient treatment conditions, efficiency of pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions. We hope that discussing the content of the guidance will help to deepen the knowledge of clinicians in the field of work as court expert witnesses and persons responsible for the implementation of the preventive measure. Based on the clinical experience measures were proposed that enable implementation of the guidance, and thus improvement of the quality of care exercised over the mentally ill criminal offenders.

The Staff Attitude to Coercion Scale (SACS) - Polish adaptation. / Kwestionariusz Postaw Personelu Wobec Przymusu (SACS) ­ Polska adaptacja.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to prepare the Polish adaptation of the SACS. The scale is a self-assessment tool designed to measure staff attitudes towards direct coercion of psychiatric wards patients. METHODS: The sample consisted of 120 adults, staff from 7 psychiatric wards. The SACS is a tool created in Norway by Tonje Husum, comprising of 15 items describing psychiatric healthcare professionals attitudes towards direct coercion. The validation procedure incorporated three basic methods to be applied in the reliability analysis - the comparison of double tests with the same method, the analysis of statistical properties of test items as well as analysis of the relation of test items and subscales with the general test result. RESULTS: After a "think aloud" type pilot study and a language validation, the internal consistency was assessed. The Cronbach's alpha ranged from 0.57 to 0.81 in the subscales, and it was 0.82 for the total score. The best solution obtained in exploratory factor analysis was a three-factor model, almost identical to the original one, confirming the division into three subscales: coercion as offending (critical attitude), as care and security (pragmatic attitude) and as treatment (positive attitude). CONCLUSIONS: The psychometric characteristics of the Polish adaptation of the SACS are similar to those reported in the original version. The results allow to recommend the method for scientific research. However, further analyses are necessary to assess validity and discriminative power in larger settings.

Incompetent to Stand Trial, Not Restorable, and Dangerous.

This article focuses on the preferred disposition for an individual charged with a serious crime against another person, adjudicated incompetent to stand trial and not restorable to competence, whose original criminal charges are dismissed without prejudice, and who is regarded by the state as dangerous to the general public. Three current models used today in California, Oregon, and Ohio are described. All three rely on modifications of various aspects of civil commitment law. We then propose a fourth model based on a modified version of the 1989 American Bar Association (ABA) Criminal Justice Mental Health Standards, in which individuals who are found incompetent to stand trial and not restorable to competence and are considered dangerous would be committed under the same special procedures governing the management and treatment of insanity acquittees.

Restraints and seclusion in psychiatry: striking a balance between protection and coercion. Critical overview of international regulations and rulings.

Restraint and seclusion (R&S) measures in psychiatric settings are applied worldwide, despite poor scientific evidence to back up their effectiveness. The medical, ethical and medico-legal implications of coercive interventions are broad-ranging and multifaceted. The review aims to shed a light on the most relevant and meaningful standards that have been laid out by international treaties, supranational institutions (United Nations, Council of Europe, World Health Organization), scientific institutions (American Medical Association, Australian Department of Health), legislative bodies and courts of law. Several court cases are herein expounded upon, with a close focus on meaningful analysis, decisions and conclusions that have laid the groundwork for a different, more restrictive and more clearly defined approach towards R&S imposed upon psychiatric patients. It is reasonable to assume that changing norms, civil rights enforcement, court rulings and new therapeutic options have influenced the use of R&S to such an extent that such measures are among the most strictly regulated in psychiatric practice; health care providers should abide by a strict set of cautionary rules when making the decision to resort to R&S, which must never be put in place as a substitute for patient-centered therapeutic planning. Case law shows that R&S should only be weighed in terms of their effectiveness towards therapeutic goals. Being able to prove that R&S was employed as part of a therapeutic path rather than used to maintain order or to exact punishment may go a long way towards shielding operators against negligence lawsuits and litigation.

The frequency of references to decision-making capacity in reports to the NSW Mental Health Review Tribunal did not change after legislative reforms that promoted them.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the impact of a 2015 reform to the Mental Health Act 2007 (NSW) (MHA) that was interpreted as requiring a reference to decision-making capacity (DMC) in reports to the NSW Mental Health Review Tribunal (MHRT). METHOD: A sample of reports to the MHRT were audited for references to the MHA's treatment criteria and DMC in periods before and after the reforms, and the frequency of references between the two periods was compared. RESULTS: The frequency of references to DMC did not change significantly after the reforms. (However, references to the 'least restriction' criterion increased markedly between the two periods). CONCLUSION: Despite legislative reforms and a supporting education campaign promoting the importance of consideration of DMC, references to DMC did not increase after the reforms.

The utility of outpatient commitment: Reduced-risks of victimization and crime perpetration.

BACKGROUND: Outpatient civil commitment (OCC) provisions, community treatment orders (CTOs) in Australia and Commonwealth nations, are part of mental health law worldwide. This study considers whether and by what means OCC provides statutorily required "needed-treatment" addressing two aspects of its legal mandate to protect the safety of self (exclusive of deliberate-self-harm) and others. METHOD: Over a 12.4-year period, records of hospitalized-psychiatric-patients, 11,424 with CTO-assignment and 16,161 without CTO-assignment were linked to police-records. Imminent-safety-threats included perpetrations and victimizations by homicides, rapes, assaults/abductions, and robberies. "Need for treatment" determinations were validated independently by Health of the Nations Scale (HoNOS) severity-score-profiles. Logistic regressions, with propensity-score- adjustment and control for 46 potential confounding-factors, were used to evaluate the association of CTO-assignment with occurrence-risk of perpetrations and victimizations. RESULTS: CTO-assignment was associated with reduced safety-risk: 17% in initial-perpetrations, 11% in initial-victimizations, and 22% for repeat-perpetrations. Each ten-community-treatment-days in interaction with CTO-assignment was associated with a 3.4% reduced-perpetration-risk. CTO-initiated-re-hospitalization was associated with a 13% reduced-initial-perpetration-risk, a 17% reduced-initial-victimization-risk, and a 22% reduced-repeat-victimization-risk. All risk-estimates appear to be the unique contributions of the CTO, CTO-initiated-re-hospitalization, or the provision of ten-community-treatment-days-i.e. after accounting for the influence of prior crimes and victimizations, ethnic-bias, neighborhood disadvantage and other between-group differences in the analysis. CONCLUSIONS: CTO assignment's association with reduced criminal-victimization and perpetration-risk, in conjunction with requiring participation in needed-treatment via re-hospitalization and community-service, adds support to the conclusion that OCC is to some extent fulfilling its legal objectives related to protecting safety of self (exclusive of deliberate-self-harm), and others.

[General medical care in French psychiatric units for inmates: A national survey]. / Soins médicaux généraux en unité hospitalière spécialement aménagée : une enquête nationale.

OBJECTIVES: The UHSA (UHSA) are French psychiatric units for inmates which admit detainees suffering from a psychiatric disorder requiring full-time hospital care. Non-psychiatric pathologies are overrepresented in patients with psychiatric disorders but also in detainees. As a result, patients hospitalized in UHSA are largely exposed to non-psychiatric conditions, and exploring the organization of general medical care for these patients appears very relevant. The aim of this study is to review the general medical care in all French UHSA. METHODS: A descriptive study was carried out through a survey of the nine facilities. RESULTS: All UHSA benefit from the intervention of a general practitioner. The physical clinical examination, the biological assessment and the electrocardiogram are systematically performed at the patient's admission in 7, 5 and 9 establishments, respectively. However, the offer of general medical care in UHSA seems disparate and sometimes insufficient. Specialized consultations are regularly requested during hospitalizations, but no establishment benefits from a telemedicine system or specialized consultations on site. The extraction of the patient to the general hospital is therefore systematic when such a consultation is needed. But the number of penitentiary escorts per day is limited. In 6 UHSA, medical extractions are thus regularly canceled by the penitentiary administration, sometimes without a medical opinion. Finally, the patient's regular physician is only contacted in 3 UHSA during hospitalizations. CONCLUSION: Based on these results, ways of improving the organization of general medical care in UHSA are proposed through four main axes: the structure and general organization; the general medical care; the link with the healthcare partners and the articulation with the penitentiary administration.

Evaluating the effects of community treatment orders (CTOs) in England using the Mental Health Services Dataset (MHSDS): protocol for a national, population-based study.

INTRODUCTION: Supervised community treatment (SCT) for people with serious mental disorders has become accepted practice in many countries around the world. In England, SCT was adopted in 2008 in the form of community treatment orders (CTOs). CTOs have been used more than expected, with significant variations between people and places. There is conflicting evidence about the effectiveness of SCT; studies based on randomised controlled trials (RCTs) have suggested few positive impacts, while those employing observational designs have been more favourable. Robust population-based studies are needed, because of the ethical challenges of undertaking further RCTs and because variation across previous studies may reflect the effects of sociospatial context on SCT outcomes. We aim to examine spatial and temporal variation in the use, effectiveness and cost of CTOs in England through the analysis of routine administrative data. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Four years of data from the Mental Health Services Dataset (MHSDS) will be analysed using multilevel models. Models based on all patients eligible for CTOs will be used to explore variation in their use. A subset of CTO-eligible patients comprising a treatment group (CTO patients) and a matched control group (non-CTO patients) will be used to examine variation in the association between CTO use and study outcomes. Primary outcome will be total time in hospital. Secondary outcomes will include time to first readmission and mortality. Outputs from these models will be used to populate predictive models of healthcare resource use. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval has been granted by the National Health Service Data Access and Advisory Group and Warwick University. To ensure patient confidentiality and to meet data governance requirements, analyses will be carried out in a secure microdata laboratory using de-identified data. Study findings will be disseminated through academic channels and shared with mental health policy-makers and other stakeholders.

How to improve clinical practice on forced medication in psychiatric practice: Suggestions from the EUNOMIA European multicentre study.

BACKGROUND: The decision to adopt forced medication in psychiatric care is particularly relevant from a clinical and ethical viewpoint. The European Commission has funded the EUNOMIA study in order to develop European recommendations for good clinical practice on coercive measures, including forced medication. METHODS: The recommendations on forced medication have been developed in 11 countries with the involvement of national clinical leaders, key-professionals and stakeholders' representatives. The national recommendations have been subsequently summarized into a European shared document. RESULTS: Several cross-national differences exist in the use of forced medication. These differences are mainly due to legal and policy making aspects, rather than to clinical situations. In fact, countries agreed that forced medication can be allowed only if the following criteria are present: 1) a therapeutic intervention is urgently needed; 2) the voluntary intake of medications is consistently rejected; 3) the patient is not aware of his/her condition. Patients' dignity, privacy and safety shall be preserved at all times. CONCLUSION: The results of our study show the need of developing guidelines on the use of forced medication in psychiatric practice, that should be considered as the last resort and only when other therapeutic option have failed.

Internamiento no voluntario del paciente psiquiátrico: normas legales y aspectos críticos / Involuntary commitment of the psychiatric patient: legal regulations and critical aspects

Clásicamente la asistencia sanitaria que han recibido los pacientes con enfermedad mental implicaba su ruptura con la sociedad, mediante su aislamiento en instituciones cerradas, configurando así una tendencia estigmatizadora sobre el enfermo, y por extensión sobre la enfermedad mental, hecho que en cierta manera ha llegado hasta nuestros días. Importantes han sido en el ámbito de la Psiquiatría las profundas reformas, que se vieron reflejadas tanto en el campo terapéutico, como en el legislativo, lo que ha contribuido a fijar un cambio en referencia a la imagen social del enfermo mental. El propósito del presente artículo tiene como objetivo revisar, desde la visión crítica, el marco legislativo vigente referente a la situación del internamiento involuntario psiquiátrico como medida terapéutica del paciente mental, ya que la práctica médico-legal nos indica la carencia de habilidades legales y ético-deontológicas que se plantean en el ámbito de la Atención Primaria

Traditionally, medical care received by psychiatric patients involved their separation from the society through their isolation in closed institutions, thereby setting a stigmatising trend on the sick, and by extension on mental illness, a practice that somehow has remained until now. The profound changes in the field of psychiatry have been important and are reflected in the therapeutic field, as well as in the legislative one, and have contributed to establish changes concerning the social opinion about psychiatric patients. The purpose of this article is to review, from the critical perspective, the current legislative framework concerning the situation of involuntary psychiatric commitment as a therapeutic measure in the psychiatric patient, as well as the legal medical practice which indicates the lack of legal skills and ethical and professional conduct arising in the field of primary care

The Forensic Mental Health Services Census of Forensic Populations in State Facilities.

This article focuses on the development of a Forensic Mental Health Services Census (FMHSC), proposed to differentiate between five different patient populations institutionalized in state facilities. The FMHSC would comprise patients who are civilly committed for mental illness or sexual dangerousness, those found incompetent to stand trial, those committed after a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity, and those voluntarily committed. The census would be performed by state mental health authorities for each of these populations within the particular jurisdiction and then would be reported to a national coordinating organization. These data are important because of the large number of persons involved and the significant resources devoted to the management and treatment of each involuntary group. The census is necessary for clinical, research, and policy purposes, to provide more rational management of these populations, both within and across jurisdictions.

[Standards for treatment in forensic committment according to § 63 and § 64 of the German criminal code : Interdisciplinary task force of the DGPPN]. / Standards für die Behandlung im Maßregelvollzug nach §§ 63 und 64 StGB : Interdisziplinäre Task-Force der DGPPN.

People who have been convicted of a crime due to a severe mental disorder and continue to be dangerous as a result of this disorder may be placed in a forensic psychiatric facility for improvement and safeguarding according to § 63 and § 64 of the German Criminal Code (StGB). In Germany, approximately 9000 patients are treated in clinics for forensic psychiatry and psychotherapy on the basis of § 63 of the StGB and in withdrawal centers on the basis of § 64 StGB. The laws for treatment of patients in forensic commitment are passed by the individual States, with the result that even the basic conditions differ in the individual States. While minimum requirements have already been published for the preparation of expert opinions on liability and legal prognosis, consensus standards for the treatment in forensic psychiatry have not yet been published. Against this background, in 2014 the German Society for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Psychosomatics and Neurology (DGPPN) commissioned an interdisciplinary task force to develop professional standards for treatment in forensic psychiatry. Legal, ethical, structural, therapeutic and prognostic standards for forensic psychiatric treatment should be described according to the current state of science. After 3 years of work the results of the interdisciplinary working group were presented in early 2017 and approved by the board of the DGPPN. The standards for the treatment in the forensic psychiatric commitment aim to initiate a discussion in order to standardize the treatment conditions and to establish evidence-based recommendations.

The Utility of Outpatient Commitment: I. A Need for Treatment and a Least Restrictive Alternative to Psychiatric Hospitalization.

OBJECTIVES: This study examined whether psychiatric patients assigned to community treatment orders (CTOs), outpatient commitment in Victoria, Australia, have a greater need for treatment to protect their health and safety than patients not assigned to CTOs. It also considered whether such treatment is provided in a least restrictive manner-that is, in a way that contributes to reduced use of psychiatric hospitalization. METHODS: The sample included 11,424 patients first placed on a CTO between 2000 and 2010, and 16,161 patients not placed on a CTO. Need for treatment was independently assessed with the Health of the Nation Outcome Scales (HoNOS) at hospital admission and at discharge. Ordinary least-squares and Poisson regressions were used to assess savings in hospital days attributable to CTO placement. RESULTS: HoNOS ratings indicated that at admission and discharge, the CTO cohort's need for treatment exceeded that of the non-CTO cohort, particularly in areas indicating potential dangerous behavior. When analyses adjusted for the propensity to be selected into the CTO cohort and other factors, the mean duration of an inpatient episode was 4.6 days shorter for the CTO cohort than for the non-CTO cohort, and a reduction of 10.4 days per inpatient episode was attributable to each CTO placement. CONCLUSIONS: CTO placement may have helped patients with a greater need for treatment to experience shorter hospital stays. Whether the CTO directly enabled the fulfillment of unsought but required treatment needs that protected patient health and safety is a question that needs to be addressed in future research.

Toward a useful standard for hospitalizing pretrial jail detainees.

Severely mentally ill jail detainees require an adequate spectrum of mental health services during detainment. For some this means a limited period of treatment in a mental hospital, just as some mentally ill individuals in the community occasionally require hospital treatment. Unfortunately, this appropriate level of treatment is often denied or neglected for jail detainees with adverse consequences for them. Among the reasons for this neglect, may be standards for hospital transfer that are no longer practical and can be easily skirted by policymakers and administrators with little interest in ensuring this level of care for mentally ill jail inmates. A more realistic standard and justification would recognize the need for hospitalization for the mentally disordered detainee who because of psychotic anosognosia refuses appropriate treatment including medications and/or whose severely decompensated condition is worsening or failing to improve despite attempts at treatment in the jail.

Ethics of Coercive Treatment and Misuse of Psychiatry.

The author discusses a pragmatic approach to decisions about coercive treatment that is based on four principles from principle-based ethics: respect for autonomy, nonmaleficence, beneficence, and justice. This approach can reconcile psychiatry's perspective with the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities. Coercive treatment can be justified only when a patient's capacity to consent is substantially impaired and severe danger to health or life cannot be prevented by less intrusive means. In this case, withholding treatment can violate the principle of justice. In the case of danger to others, social exclusion and loss of freedom can be seen as harming psychosocial health, which can justify coercive treatment. Considerable efforts are required to support patients' informed decisions and avoid allowing others to make substitute decisions. Mental disorder alone without impaired capacity does not justify involuntary treatment, which can be considered a misuse of psychiatry. Involuntary detention without treatment can be justified for short periods for assessment and to offer treatment options.

[Quality Indicators for Integrated Care in Patients with Schizophrenia - Results from a Feasibility Study]. / Qualitätsindikatoren für die Behandlung von Menschen mit Schizophrenie ­ Ergebnisse einer Anwendungsstudie.

Objective The study aimed to evaluate the applicability of a set of quality indicators to assess models of integrated care for patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. We report first values for these indicators in routine care in Germany. Methods The study is based on a cohort of adult patients with schizophrenia insured by one large German statutory health insurance company, which were assessed two times and gave consent to evaluate their routine claims data. The study tried to use 12 basic and 22 quality indicators from claims data. Results It was possible to estimate most structural indicators using available data, but only half of the quality indicators. This means that while assessment of quality indicators is feasible in general, routine claims data needs to be supplemented by additional (primary) data. Four of the calculated quality indicators had clear targets or red-flag values, which were not met in our cohort in all four indicators. None of the patients had an outpatient mental health related contact within one week (target > 90 %). The readmission rate within 30 days (21 %) was twice as high as the proposed red-flag value of 10 %. Similar figures were seen for antipsychotic polypharmacy (25 %, red-flag value > 10 %) and the proportion of patients with compulsory treatment (15 %) exceeded the red-flag value by 5 %. Conclusion The study shows that it is possible to measure quality indicators, but also demonstrates considerable limitations. There is a need to validate indicators in routine care.

Effectiveness of Community Treatment Orders: The International Evidence.

OBJECTIVE: Community treatment orders (CTOs) exist in more than 75 jurisdictions worldwide. This review outlines findings from the international literature on CTO effectiveness. METHOD: The article draws on 2 comprehensive systematic reviews of the literature published before 2013, then uses the same search terms to identify studies published between 2013 and 2015. The focus is on what the literature as a whole tells us about CTO effectiveness, with particular emphasis on the strength and weaknesses of different methodologies. RESULTS: The results from more than 50 nonrandomized studies show mixed results. Some show benefits from CTOs while others show none on the most frequently reported outcomes of readmission, time in hospital, and community service use. Results from the 3 existing randomized controlled trials (RCTs) show no effect of CTOs on a wider range of outcome measures except that patients on CTOs are less likely than controls to be a victim of crime. Patients on CTOs are, however, likely to have their liberty restricted for significantly longer periods of time. Meta-analyses pooling patient data from RCTs and high quality nonrandomized studies also find no evidence of patient benefit, and systematic reviews come to the same conclusion. CONCLUSION: There is no evidence of patient benefit from current CTO outcome studies. This casts doubt over the usefulness and ethics of CTOs. To remove uncertainty, future research must be designed as RCTs.