Efficacy of compulsory community treatment and use in minority ethnic populations: A statewide cohort study

Emergency examination authorities in Queensland, Australia

OBJECTIVE

In Queensland, where a person experiences a major disturbance in their mental capacity, and is at risk of serious harm to self and others, an emergency examination authority (EEA) authorises Queensland Police Service (QPS) and Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) to detain and transport the person to an ED. In the ED, further detention for up to 12 h is authorised to allow the examination to be completed. Little published information describes these critical patient encounters.

METHODS

Queensland's Public Health Act (2005), amended in 2017, mandates the use of the approved EEA form. Data were extracted from a convenience sample of 942 EEAs including: (i) patient age, sex, address; (ii) free text descriptions by QPS and QAS officers of the person's behaviour and any serious risk of harm requiring urgent care; (iii) time examination period commenced; and (iv) outcome upon examination.

RESULTS

Of 942 EEA forms, 640 (68%) were retrieved at three 'larger central' hospitals and 302 (32%) at two 'smaller regional' hospitals in non-metropolitan Queensland. QPS initiated 342 (36%) and QAS 600 (64%) EEAs for 486 (52%) males, 453 (48%) females and two intersexes (<1%), aged from 9 to 85 years (median 29 years, 17% aged <18 years). EEAs commonly occurred on weekends (32%) and between 2300 and midnight (8%), characterised by 'drug and/or alcohol issues' (53%), 'self-harm' (40%), 'patient aggression' (25%) and multiple prior EEAs (23%). Although information was incomplete, most patients (78%, n = 419/534) required no inpatient admission.

CONCLUSIONS

EEAs furnish unique records for evaluating the impacts of Queensland's novel legislative reforms.

Variation in the use of compulsory community treatment orders between district health boards in New Zealand

OBJECTIVE

To report rates of Compulsory Community Treatment Order (CTO) use by District Health Boards (DHBs) in New Zealand and analyse whether socio-demographic factors explain any variability.

METHODS

The annualised rate of CTO use per 100,000 population was calculated for the years 2009-2018 using national databases. Rates were adjusted for age, gender, ethnicity, and deprivation and are reported according to DHBs to allow comparisons between regions.

RESULTS

The annualised rate of CTO use for New Zealand was 95.5 per 100,000 population. CTO use varied between DHBs from 53 to 184 per 100,000 population. Standardising for demographic variables and deprivation made little difference to this variation. CTO use was higher in males and young adults. Rates for Māori were more than three times that of Caucasian people. CTO use increased as deprivation became more severe.

CONCLUSIONS

CTO use increases with Maori ethnicity, young adulthood, and deprivation. Adjusting for socio-demographic factors does not explain the wide variation in CTO use between DHBs in New Zealand. Other regional factors appear to be the major driver of variation in CTO use.

Examining the health and criminal justice characteristics for young people on compulsory community treatment orders: An Australian birth cohort and data linkage study

BACKGROUND

Most studies on the predictors and effectiveness of community treatment orders (CTOs) are restricted to health-related variables and do not consider forensic contacts as established by criminal justice databases or predictors from birth. We used linked administrative health and criminal justice data for a birth cohort in Queensland, Australia to investigate the characteristics and outcomes of people placed on CTOs.

METHODS

CTOs were identified from administrative data for hospital admissions and community mental health service contacts for a population cohort of 45,141 individuals born in Queensland in 1990. These data were linked with administrative court records, with individuals followed up to age 23/24 years. Logistic regression analyses were used to examine characteristics associated with CTO placement and Tobit regression analyses to examine factors predicting health and criminal justice outcomes in the following year.

RESULTS

There were 211 CTO cases by age 23/24 years, for whom it was possible to identify 413 controls on voluntary treatment. Non-affective psychoses [F20-F29] were the strongest predictors of CTO placement (OR_adj = 4.07, 2.77-5.99) followed by a court appearance (OR_adj = 1.99, 1.28-3.09). CTOs were associated with greater, not lower, subsequent psychiatric hospital admissions, inpatient bed-days and community mental health service contacts, although on sensitivity analyses psychiatric hospital admissions were the same as voluntary controls. CTOs were not associated with more subsequent court appearances despite higher rates of offending before CTO placement.

CONCLUSIONS

Both clinical and forensic variables can determine CTO placement and, on adjustment for these covariates, CTOs were not associated with reductions in psychiatric hospital admission, time spent as an inpatient, or subsequent court appearances. The latter finding might mean that CTOs reduce the risk of offending to that of voluntary controls.

Characteristics of people on community treatment orders in Australia: Data from the 2010 National Survey of High Impact Psychosis

OBJECTIVE

Existing evidence on factors associated with community treatment order placement is largely restricted to administrative data. We utilised the data from a large nationally representative sample to compare the demographic, clinical, social functioning, substance use and service utilisation profiles of people living with psychosis under community treatment orders with those who were not.

METHODS

Participants were grouped based on whether they had been subject to a community treatment order in the past 12 months or not. We conducted logistic regressions to examine demographic, clinical, social functioning, substance use and service utilisation profiles associated with the two groups.

RESULTS

People who had recently been subject to community treatment orders were more likely to be treated with long-acting injectable antipsychotics and lacked insight but were less likely to report suicidal ideation. They also had higher psychiatric inpatient admission rates but a lower frequency of general practitioner visits.

CONCLUSION

People on community treatment orders in Australia may differ from those who are not under a community treatment order in their treatment needs. Resources and care provision must match the needs of this particularly vulnerable group.

Engaging with Transformative Paradigms in Mental Health

When graduates of Australian social work courses embark on a career in mental health, the systems they enter are complex, fragmented and evolving. Emerging practitioners will commonly be confronted by the loneliness, social exclusion, poverty and prejudice experienced by people living with mental distress; however, social work practice may not be focused on these factors. Instead, in accordance with the dominant biomedical perspective, symptom and risk management may predominate. Frustration with the limitations evident in this approach has seen the United Nations call for the transformation of mental health service delivery. Recognising paradigmatic influences on mental health social work may lead to a more considered enactment of person centred, recovery and rights-based approaches. This paper compares and contrasts influences of neo-liberalism, critical theory, human rights and post-structuralism on mental health social work practice. In preparing social work practitioners to recognise the influence of, and work more creatively with, intersecting paradigms, social work educators strive to foster a transformative approach to mental health practice that straddles discourses.

A state-wide study of dental comorbidities in psychiatric disorders resulting in avoidable emergency department presentations

BACKGROUND

Attendances at emergency departments (EDs) for dental conditions are unnecessary and come at a significant cost to health services.

METHODS

A population-based record-linkage analysis of a retrospective cohort over 2 years across state-based facilities in Queensland. This was to determine if people with mental illness were more likely than the general population to attend EDs for a range of non-traumatic or avoidable dental conditions.

RESULTS

There were 1 381 428 individuals in the linked database, of whom 177 157 (13%) had a psychiatric history and 22 046 (1.5%) had one or more avoidable dental presentations. These were toothache (n = 9619), dental abscesses (n = 8449), caries (n = 1826), stomatitis (n = 1213) and gum disease (n = 939). After adjusting for confounders, psychiatric patients were significantly more likely to present with toothache, dental abscesses and caries but not stomatitis or gum disease. Depending on the dental outcome, other risk factors were male sex, lower income, rurality and Indigenous status.

CONCLUSIONS

Given these findings, possible interventions should include an increased emphasis on assessing oral health in mental health or primary care, especially in non-metropolitan areas, as well as early dental referral. Service planning for this population should including easier navigation of dental services, availability outside normal office hours and free outreach dental clinics.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of predictors and outcomes of community treatment orders in Australia and New Zealand

OBJECTIVES

Australia and New Zealand have some of the highest rates of compulsory community treatment order use worldwide. There are also concerns that people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds may have higher rates of community treatment orders. We therefore assessed the health service, clinical and psychosocial outcomes of compulsory community treatment and explored if culturally and linguistically diverse, indigenous status or other factors predicted community treatment orders.

METHODS

We searched the following databases from inception to January 2020: PubMed/Medline, Embase, CINAHL and PsycINFO. We included any study conducted in Australia or New Zealand that compared people on community treatment orders for severe mental illness with controls receiving voluntary psychiatric treatment. Two reviewers independently extracted data, assessing study quality using Joanna Briggs Institute scales.

RESULTS

A total of 31 publications from 12 studies met inclusion criteria, of which 24 publications could be included in a meta-analysis. Only one was from New Zealand. People who were male, single and not engaged in work, study or home duties were significantly more likely to be subject to a community treatment order. In addition, those from a culturally and linguistically diverse or migrant background were nearly 40% more likely to be on an order. Indigenous status was not associated with community treatment order use in Australia and there were no New Zealand data. Community treatment orders did not reduce readmission rates or bed-days at 12-month follow-up. There was evidence of increased benefit in the longer-term but only after a minimum of 2 years of use. Finally, people on community treatment orders had a lower mortality rate, possibly related to increased community contacts.

CONCLUSION

People from culturally and linguistically diverse or migrant backgrounds are more likely to be placed on a community treatment order. However, the evidence for effectiveness remains inconclusive and limited to orders of at least 2 years' duration. The restrictive nature of community treatment orders may not be outweighed by the inconclusive evidence for beneficial outcomes.

Definitions of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD): A Literature Review of Epidemiological Research in Australia

Objective: To identify how Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) communities are defined in epidemiological research in Australia and provide a definition of CALD status that aids the consistency and interpretability of epidemiological studies. Methods: Peer-reviewed literature from January 2015 to May 2020 was searched via four databases (Ovid Medline combined with PubMed, Embase, Emcare, and CINAHL) to identify quantitative studies of CALD people in Australia. Results: A total of 108 studies met the criteria for inclusion in the review. Country of birth was the most commonly used CALD definition (n = 33, 30.6%), with combinations of two or more components also frequently used (n = 31, 28.7%). No studies used all the components suggested as core to defining CALD status. including country of birth, languages other than English spoken at home, English proficiency, and indigenous status. Conclusions: There was considerable inconsistency in how CALD status was defined. The review suggests that CALD status would best be defined as people born in non-English speaking countries, and/or who do not speak English at home. Additionally, indigenous peoples should be considered separately. This recommended definition will support the better identification of potential health disparity and needs in CALD and indigenous communities.

The association between discontinuation of community treatment orders and outcomes in the 12-months following discharge from residential mental health rehabilitation

To compare the post-discharge outcomes of people admitted to community-based residential mental health rehabilitation facilities subject to a Community Treatment Order (CTO) who do and do not have this order discontinued prior to discharge. People subject to a CTO who were admitted across five Community Care Units (CCUs) in Queensland, Australia between 2005 and 2014 (N = 311), were grouped based on involuntary treatment status at the time of their discharge. Individuals whose status changed to voluntary (n = 63; CTO > VOL) were compared with those whose treatment remained involuntary (n = 248; CTO-CTO) on demographic, clinical and treatment-related characteristics. Group-level and individualised changes were assessed between the year pre-admission and the year post-discharge. The primary outcome measure was change in mental health and social functioning (Health of the Nation Outcome Scale). Secondary outcomes included disability (Life Skills Profile-16), service use, accommodation instability, and involuntary treatment. Logistic regression was completed to examine predictors of CTO discontinuation during CCU care. Potential predictors covered service-, consumer-, and treatment-related characteristics. Compared to the CTO-CTO group, the CTO > VOL group had significantly longer episodes of CCU care, more frequent primary diagnoses of schizophrenia spectrum disorders, and were more likely to be female. Following discharge, CTO > VOL subjects had more frequent reliable and clinically significant improvement in HoNOS scores, as well as more frequently demonstrated reliable improvement in hospital bed use and accommodation instability than the CTO-CTO subjects. CTO discontinuation was predicted by longer duration of CCU care, being a female, and having a smaller number of psychiatry-related bed use prior admission. Our findings suggest that CCU care of sufficient duration may lessen the need for subsequent compulsory treatment in the community.

Measuring the impact of revised mental health legislation on human rights in Queensland, Australia

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006) (CRPD) has been instrumental for initiating and shaping the reform of mental health legislation in many countries, including the eight Australian jurisdictions. Multiple approaches have been proposed to assess and monitor the compliance of States Parties' mental health legislation with the CRPD, and to evaluate its success in protecting and promoting the human rights of people with disabilities. This article reports an effort to index the impact of legislation on human rights by measuring changes in the prevalence of compulsory treatment orders applied to people with mental illness after the introduction of CRPD influenced mental health legislation in the Australian state of Queensland. We found that despite reforms intended to enhance patient autonomy, the prevalence of compulsory treatment orders increased after implementation of the new legislation. Possible reasons behind this unintended consequence of the legislative reform may include a lack of systematized voluntary alternatives to compulsory treatment, a paternalistic and restrictive culture in mental health services and risk aversion in clinicians and society. We recommend that the reforms in mental health policy as well as legislation need to go further in order to achieve the goals embodied in the human rights framework of the CRPD.