Objective: Involuntary psychiatric admissions under the Mental Health Act increased significantly nationwide. Little is known, however, about the influencing factors of this phenomenon.
Methods: The aim of this regional cross-sectional study in North Rhine-Westphalia was to compare voluntary and involuntary psychiatric admissions (under the PsychKG NRW) regarding personal, institutional, social-psychiatric and demographic characteristics. A retrospective analysis of hospital admission registers over a period of 6 years with over 200 000 cases was conducted.
Results: Elderly patients with dementia were most frequently involuntarily admitted. The existence of a locked ward in hospitals did not per se increase involuntary admissions, whereas the scope and quality of local social-psychiatric services had a major impact.
Conclusion: Social-psychiatric services and home-treatment must be strengthened to achieve lower involuntary admission rates and to further improve the quality of mental health care all over Germany.
© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.